Otariinae

Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. The sea lions have six extant and one extinct species in five genera. Their range extends from the subarctic to tropical waters of the global ocean in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, with the notable exception of the northern Atlantic Ocean.

Otariinae

Atsme · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
OtariidaePBDB
Diet
piscivorePBDB, for Otariidae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Pinnipedia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Pinnipedia

Time the record covers

At least 4.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 2.58 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 774 ka.

Miocene — about 2 of 5 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 5 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 5 occurrencesPleistocene12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.8–9.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.4–9.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.0–8.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.6–8.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.2–7.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.4–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–6.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.6–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–5.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.8–5.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.4–5.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.0–4.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.6–4.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.2–3.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.8–3.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.4–3.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.3–1.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.9–1.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.5–1.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.1–669 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.246 Mya2.58 Mya12.1 Mya274 ka

5 occurrences of Otariinae on record, most of them in the Pliocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

5 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

San Mateo — 33.20°N, 117.37°WSetana — 42.68°N, 140.31°ETirabuzon — 27.31°N, 112.25°W

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The named rock units Otariinae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Otariinae and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Otariinae and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

57 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Otariinae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

4 references

Each of the 5 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Otariinae

Credit
Atsme
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Otariinae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itOtariidae through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1825