This is a Paleobiology Database Online Systematics Archive that includes all known published systematic statements regarding desmostylians. This archive also contains every known published occurrence of fossil Desmostylia. Desmostylians are known exclusively from the North Pacific, and many occurrences of desmostylians are known from Japan, and some of these occurrences are almost certainly missing due to difficulty in translating Japanese references to English. If any known published account of a fossil desmostylian seems to be missing from this archive, please contact the author using the information below, and report the missing occurrence, along with the relevant bibliographic information.

This archive aims to compile all information about the identity and distribution of fossil desmostylian taxa to facilitate any and all other studies regarding fossil Desmostylia. The goal of this compilation is to contribute to a comparison to a study the distribution of Cenozoic marine tetrapods over time. This study is in progress. All of the data are publicly available for use by anyone.

Entry of these data began in 2000 and is an ongoing process. New publications on desmostylian taxonomy are entered as soon as the author is made aware of them. Much of the taxonomic information is drawn from Domning (1996, see below).

• D. P. Domning. 2002. Desmostylia; pp. 319-322 in W. F. Perrin, B. Würsig, and J. G. M. Thewissen (eds.), Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Academic Press, San Diego.
• D. P. Domning. 1996. Bibliography and index of the Sirenia and Desmostylia. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 80:1-611.

Mark D. Uhen
George Mason University
Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences
MS 5F1
Fairfax, VA 22030
Email: muhen@gmu.edu
Phone: 703-993-5264
Fax: 703-993-1066