The Desmostylia are an extinct order of marine mammals comprising four genera, known from late Oligocene and Miocene fossil records. Dental and skeletal form suggests desmostylians were amphibious herbivores dependent on littoral (seashore) habitats. Their closest living relatives are the Proboscidea (elephants) and Sirenia (manatees), so they belong to the cohort Afrotheria.

Desmostylians grew to 1.8 metres in length and are thought to have weighed more than 200 kg. The type species Desmostylus was first described by American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1888. Desmostylus derives from the Greek words desmos, meaning "bond" and stylos, meaning "column" or "pillar."

External links

• Introduction to Desmostylia
• Desmostylus (in Dutch)

Prehistoric placental mammals | Oligocene mammals | Miocene mammals | Miocene extinctions

Desmostyli | Desmostylia | Desmostylia | Desmostylia | Десмостилы