Otarioidea Explained

Otarioidea is a superfamily of pinnipeds that includes the families Odobenidae, Otariidae and their stem-relatives.^{[1] [2]} In the past when the pinnipeds were considered to be a diphyletic group of marine mammals, a few points of cranial and dental morphology suggested that the otarioids originated from a line of bears.^[3] One extinct family, Enaliarctidae, was postulated to be otarioids that were a transitional clade between Hemicyoninae (an extinct subfamily of dog-like bears) and Otariidae.^[3] Recent comprehensive studies have, however, since the 1990s found pinnipeds to be a monophyletic clade of aquatic arctoids.^[1] There are a few authorities that place desmatophocids and odobenids as sister taxa to Phocidae in the clade Phocomorpha based on a few minor physiological features.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Berta, A. . Churchill, M. . Boessenecker, R.W. . amp . 2018 . The Origin and Evolutionary Biology of Pinnipeds: Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses . Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences . 46. 203–228 . 10.1146/annurev-earth-082517-010009. 2018AREPS..46..203B . free .
2. Paterson . R. S. . Rybczynski . N.. Kohno . N.. Maddin . H. C. . 2020 . A Total Evidence Phylogenetic Analysis of Pinniped Phylogeny and the Possibility of Parallel Evolution Within a Monophyletic Framework . Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution . 7 . 457 . 10.3389/fevo.2019.00457. free .
3. Mitchell, E. . Tedford, R. H. . amp . 1973 . The Enaliarctinae: a new group of extinct aquatic Carnivora and a consideration of the origin of the Otariidae. . Bulletin of the AMNH . 151 . 3 . 2246/1178.
4. McKenna, Malcolm C., and Susan K. Bell (1997). Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. New York: Columbia University Press. 631 pp.