Sespia
Appearance
Sespia Temporal range: Late Oligocene
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Sespia californica fossils in San Diego | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | †Merycoidodontidae |
Tribe: | †Sespiini |
Genus: | †Sespia Schultz & Falkenbach 1968 |
Type species | |
†Leptauchenia nitida | |
Species | |
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Synonyms | |
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Sespia ("of Sespe Creek") is an extinct genus of oreodont endemic to North America. They lived during the Late Oligocene 26.3—24.8 mya, existing for approximately 1.5 million years.[1] Sespia was cat to goat-sized and desert-dwelling.[citation needed] The genus was closely related to the larger Leptauchenia.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Leptauchenia.jpg/220px-Leptauchenia.jpg)
Fossils of the best known species, the cat-sized S. californica, have been found California and are known from literally thousands of specimens. The largest species, the goat-sized S. ultima, is known from late Oligocene deposits in Nebraska. S. ultima was once placed in a separate, monotypic, genus as Megasespia middleswarti. Other species were once placed within Leptauchenia.
References
[edit]External links
[edit]- [1] San Diego Natural History Museum "Fossil Mysteries Field Guide: Sespia californica