Biology:Pachyphoca

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Short description: Extinct genus of carnivores


Pachyphoca
Temporal range: Miocene
Scientific classification e
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

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

  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. 

Wikidata ☰ Q30693567 entry