Enhydritherium Explained

Enhydritherium terraenovae is an extinct marine otter endemic to North America that lived during the Miocene through Pliocene epochs from ~9.1–4.9 Ma. (AEO),^[1] existing for approximately .

The ancestral lineage of Enhydritherium terraenova can be traced to Africa and Eurasia, but no clear route of migration can be determined according to Thompson et al.^[2]

Taxonomy

Enhydritherium terraenovae was named by Berta and Morgan in 1985^[3] and is the genotype for this animal. Its type locality is the phosphate Palmetto Mine in Florida, which is in a Hemphillian marginal marine sandstone in the Upper Bone Valley Formation of Florida.

Fossil distribution

Fossil specimens were found in California (3 sites) and Florida (8 sites).

In 2017, part of a jawbone was found in the Juchipila Basin, Zacatecas.^[4] Located about 200 km from the modern Pacific coast and 600 from the Gulf of Mexico, the finding suggests the animal migrated across the continent using fresh water corridors in central Mexico.^[5]

Notes and References

1. [John Alroy|Alroy, John]
2. Feldhamer, George A., Thompson, Bruce C., Chapman. Joseph A. Wild mammals of North America: biology, management, and conservation, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003.
3. A. Berta and G. S. Morgan. 1985. A new sea otter (Carnivora: Mustelidae) from the late Miocene and early Pliocene (Hemphillian) of North America. Journal of Paleontology . 59. 4. 809–819. 1304931.
4. Web site: Rare Otter Fossil Found in the Mexican Desert . https://web.archive.org/web/20170615043905/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/otters-fossils-americas-mexico-paleontology-science/ . dead . June 15, 2017 . 9 June 2018 . 14 June 2017.
5. Tseng . Z. Jack . Pacheco-Castro . Adolfo . Carranza-Castañeda . Oscar . Aranda-Gómez . José Jorge . Wang . Xiaoming . Troncoso . Hilda . Discovery of the fossil otter Enhydritherium terraenovae (Carnivora, Mammalia) in Mexico reconciles a palaeozoogeographic mystery . Biology Letters . 13 . 6 . 20170259 . en . 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0259 . 28615353 . 5493742 . 1 June 2017.