Odobenidae

OdobenidaeAllen, 1880

Accepted name, Mammal Species of the World 2005

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, 1969a, b; Vrana et al., 1994); (2) in the family Otariidae (Barnes, 1989; Mitchell, 1975b); (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.

• Wilson, D and Reeder, D. (eds.) 2005. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. 3rd ed. -- 2142 pp. Johns Hopkins University Press.