Gomphotaria
Gomphotaria is a genus of very large shellfish-eating dusignathine walrus[1] found along the coast of what is now California, during the late Miocene.
It was a huge-sized pinniped with skull length of around 47 cm (19 in), surpassing only by Pontolis, which had a skull of 60 cm (24 in) long.[2] Gomphotaria had comparatively small eyes, increased upper and lower canines and four tusks, with one pair in the lower and upper jaws.[clarification needed] According to wear on the tusks, G. pugnax hammered shellfish open, rather than simply sucking them out of their shells as do modern walruses.[2] In terms of the postcranial skeleton, Gomphotaria and other dusignathine walruses were built more like sea lions than modern walrus. Gomphotariais a prime example of the extreme diversity that walruses once exhibited.
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