Sespia

{{short description|Genus of mammals (fossil)}}

{{Italic title}}

{{Automatic Taxobox

| name = Sespia

| image = Sespia californica in San Diego.jpg

| image_caption = Sespia californica fossils in San Diego

| fossil_range = Late Oligocene

| taxon = Sespia

| authority = Schultz & Falkenbach 1968

| type_species = †Leptauchenia nitida

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• †S. nitida
• †S. californica
• †S. heterodon
• †S. ultima

| synonyms =

• †Megasespia Schultz and Falkenbach, 1968

}}

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 {{Mya|26.3-24.8|million years}}.[https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=42510 Sespia at fossilworks] Sespia was cat to goat-sized and desert-dwelling.{{cn|date=April 2019}} The genus was closely related to the larger Leptauchenia.

File: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.