Odobenidae Allen 1880

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Carnivora, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 532-628 : 594

Odobenidae Allen 1880

Odobenidae Allen 1880 , U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. Territ., 12: ix, 5.

Synonyms: Odobaeninae Orlov 1931 ; Odontobænidae Elliot 1905 ; Rosmaridae Gill 1866 ; Thalattailurina Albrecht 1879 ; Trichechoidea Giebel 1855 ; Trichecidae J. E. Gray 1821 ; Trichiphocinae J. A. Allen 1870 ; Trichisina J. E. Gray 1837 ; Trichophocacae J. A. Allen 1880 .

Genera: 1 genus with 1 species:

Genus Odobenus Brisson 1762 (1 species with 3 subspecies)

Discussion: Trichecidae Gray (1821) and Rosmaridae Gill (1866) are invalid ( International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1959). The enigmatic walruses have been placed as: (1) the sister group to the otariids (Árnason, 1977; Árnason et al., 1995; Couturier and Dutrillaux, 1986; Dragoo and Honeycutt, 1997; Repenning and Tedford, 1977; Sarich, 1969 a, b; Vrana et al., 1994); (2) in the family Otariidae ( Barnes, 1989; Mitchell, 1975 b); (3) the sister group to the phocids (Berta, 1994; Berta and Wyss, 1994; Wyss and Flynn, 1993); and finally (4) McKenna and Bell (1997) considered them a subfamily of Phocidae . Lento et al. (1995) believed the best answer was to leave the walrus as an independent family. Because of the uncertainty of the placement of this taxon, I have followed Rice (1998) who provided an excellent discussion of the various arrangements.