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Otaria josefinae
Taxonomy
Otaria josefinae was named by Hostos-Olivera et al. (2026) [urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B5661D9D-
28CD-4E3C-B040-D7B0AAC884F3]. Its type specimen is UPCH-PAL-F 260, a partial skull (partial cranium with the right side eroded and a left hemimandible preserving the canine and m), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Aguada de Lomas, Pleistocene, which is in a Calabrian marine sandstone in the Pongo Formation of Peru.
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Otaria josefinae Hostos-Olivera et al. figs. Figs 2-9 |
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If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.
†Otaria josefinae Hostos-Olivera et al. 2026
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| L. Hostos-Olivera et al. 2026 | Otaria josefinae is a medium-sized sea lion species (condylobasal length, CBL = 258–277 mm, Table 1) distinguishable from all Otariidae by exhibiting a complex tympanic ornamentation featuring a markedly discontinuous crest, with two ventral protuberances separated by a gap. Unlike other otariids except for Otaria byronia, it possesses a plate-shaped (i.e. flat and laterally expanded) anterior orbital margin (vs. a low or indistinct ridge) and a posterior opening of the carotid canal entirely enclosed by the tympanic (vs. partially overlapped or open canal). Otaria josefinae further differs from the extant South American sea lion (O. byronia), in lacking a ventral tuberosity on the zygomatic root and anterolateral braincase tuberosities; in having an M-shaped maxillopalatine suture (vs. rounded/lobate); and in the relative length of the palate: in O. josefinae the palate is shorter, transversely arched, and terminated at the posterior portion of the temporal fossa, with palate length ∼50% of the CBL, whereas in O. byronia the palate extends to the glenoid fossae and reaches 62% of the CBL (Brunner 2004). Consistent with these differences, O. byronia has a larger skull (CBL = 325–359 mm), on average 1.3 times the skull size of O. josefinae. |
Measurements
No measurements are available
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| Source: t = tribe, c = class, uc = unranked clade | |||||
| References: Carreño and Cronin 1993, Nowak 1991, Gingerich 2003, Hendy et al. 2009 | |||||