| Pliophoca | |
|---|---|
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| Partial fossil skeleton of Pliophoca etrusca | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Clade: | Pinnipedia |
| Family: | Phocidae |
| Genus: | † Pliophoca Tavani, 1941 [1] |
| Species | |
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Pliophoca is an extinct genus of seal in the family Phocidae.
This genus is known from late Pliocene (Piacenzian) marine deposits in northern Italy. Numerous disassociated monachine remains from the Lee Creek Mine of North Carolina were assigned by Koretsky and Ray (2008), but Berta et al. (2015) rejected the referral and suggested that they may be distinct, which was confirmed by Dewaele et al. (2018), who erected Auroraphoca for two of the Lee Creek specimens that Koretsky and Ray (2008) assigned to Pliophoca. [2] [3]
This fossil species of seal, ancestor of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) has been found only in late Pliocene (Piacenzian) deposits at Orciano and Volterra in Tuscany. It was a species endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. [4] [5]
Paolo Savi, was an Italian geologist and ornithologist.
This article records new taxa of fossil mammals that were described during the year 2018, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to the paleontology of mammals in the year 2018.
Kogia pusilla is an extinct species of sperm whale from the Middle Pliocene of Italy related to the modern day dwarf sperm whale and pygmy sperm whale. It is known from a single skull discovered in 1877, and was considered a species of beaked whale until 1997. The skull shares many characteristics with other sperm whales, and is comparable in size to that of the dwarf sperm whale. Like the modern Kogia, it probably hunted squid in the twilight zone, and frequented continental slopes. The environment it inhabited was likely a calm, nearshore area with a combination sandy and hard-rock seafloor. K. pusilla likely died out due to the ice ages at the end of the Pliocene.
This article records new taxa of fossil mammals of every kind are scheduled to be described during the year 2019, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of mammals that are scheduled to occur in the year 2019.
Genera of pinnipeds and their stem-allies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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