🦕 Prehistoric World Map

Pelagiarctos fossil map

Where fossils of Pelagiarctos have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 15 million years ago and on today’s map.

Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 15 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →

Pelagiarctos
Image: Robert W Boessenecker Morgan Churchill, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
GroupEarly mammals
Lived20.45–13.82 million years ago (Burdigalian to Langhian)
PeriodsNeogene
FamilyOdobenidae
Named byBarnes 1988
Fossil records6 occurrences at 3 locations (PBDB)
Found inUnited States
Rock formationsTemblor, Topanga

About Pelagiarctos

Pelagiarctos was a genus of walrus that lived during the Middle Miocene, approx. 13-15 mya. Its fossilised remains have been found in the Sharktooth Hill Bonebed, in Kern County, California. It was originally described as an Otariidae, though it is now usually considered to be a basal Odobenidae.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Pelagiarctos (revision 1345024734), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q7161149.

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