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Pachyphoca

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Pachyphoca
Temporal range: Miocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Clade: Pinnipedia
Family: Phocidae
Subfamily: Phocinae
Tribe: Cystophorini
Genus: Pachyphoca
Koretsky and Rahmat, 2013
Species
  • P. ukrainica Koretsky and Rahmat, 2013 (type species)
  • P. chapskii Koretsky and Rahmat, 2013
  • P. volkodavi Tarasenko, 2022

Pachyphoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from Neogene marine deposits in the northern part of the Paratethys basin.

Description

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There are two recognized species of Pachyphoca, P. ukrainica and P. chapskii, both of which have been found in Serravallian-Tortonian-aged marine deposits in Ukraine.[1] Pachyphoca ukrainica was the smaller of the two species, and shows more adaptations for terrestrial locomotion compared to the larger P chapskii.[2]

References

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  1. ^ I. A. Koretsky and S. J. Rahmat. 2013. First record of fossil Cystophorinae (Carnivora, Phocidae): Middle Miocene seals from the northern Paratethys. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 119(3):325-350.
  2. ^ Berta, Annalisa (2017). The Rise of Marine Mammals: 50 Million Years of Evolution. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 106. ISBN 9781421423265.