| Afrophoca | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Clade: | Pinnipedia |
| Family: | Phocidae |
| Genus: | † Afrophoca Koretsky and Domning, 2014 |
| Species: | †A. libyca |
| Binomial name | |
| †Afrophoca libyca Koretsky and Domning, 2014 | |
Afrophoca is an extinct genus of earless seal from Miocene-age marine deposits in Libya. [1]
A rookery is a colony of breeding animals, generally birds. A rookery is generally reserved for a colony of gregarious birds.
Nothosaurs were Triassic marine sauropterygian reptiles that may have lived like seals of today, catching food in water but coming ashore on rocks and beaches. They averaged about 3 metres (10 ft) in length, with a long body and tail. The feet were paddle-like, and are known to have been webbed in life, to help power the animal when swimming. The neck was quite long, and the head was elongated and flattened, and relatively small in relation to the body. The margins of the long jaws were equipped with numerous sharp outward-pointing teeth, indicating a diet of fish and squid.
Acrophoca longirostris, sometimes called the swan-necked seal, is an extinct genus of Late Miocene pinniped. It was thought to have been the ancestor of the modern leopard seal, however it is now thought to be a species of monk seal.
Enaliarctos is an extinct genus of pinniped, and may represent the ancestor to all pinnipeds. Prior to the discovery of Puijila, the five species in the genus Enaliarctos represented the oldest known pinniped fossils, having been recovered from late Oligocene and early Miocene strata of California and Oregon.
Desmatophoca is an extinct genus of early pinniped that lived during the Miocene, and is named from the Greek "phoca", meaning seal. A taxon of the family Desmatophocidae, it shares some morphological similarities with modern true seals. Two species are recognized: Desmatophoca oregonensis and Desmatophoca brachycephala. Little information exists regarding Desmatophoca, due to the small number of fossil samples obtained and identified.
Cameroceras is a genus of extinct, giant orthoconic cephalopod that lived mainly during the Ordovician period. It first appears during the middle Ordovician, around 470 million years ago, and was a fairly common component of the fauna in some places during the period, inhabiting the shallow seas of Laurentia, Baltica and Siberia. Its diversity and abundance became severely reduced following the Ordovician–Silurian extinction events, and the last remnants of the genus went extinct sometime during the Wenlock.
Thalassoleon is an extinct genus of large fur seal. Thalassoleon inhabited the Northern Pacific Ocean in latest Miocene and early Pliocene. Fossils of T. mexicanus are known from Baja California and southern California. T. macnallyae is known from central California, and T. inouei is known from Japan. Thalassoleon could be the ancestor of the modern northern fur seal.
Puijila darwini is an extinct species of basal pinniped which lived during the Miocene epoch about 21 to 24 million years ago. Approximately a metre in length, the animal possessed only minimal physical adaptations for swimming. Unlike modern pinnipeds, it did not have flippers and its overall form was otter-like, albeit more specialized; its skull and teeth are the features that most clearly indicate that it is a seal.
Arctoidea is an infraorder of mostly carnivorous mammals which include the extinct Hemicyonidae (dog-bears), and the extant Musteloidea, Pinnipedia, and Ursidae (bears), found in all continents from the Eocene, 46 million years ago, to the present. Arctoids are caniforms, along with dogs (canids) and extinct bear dogs (Amphicyonidae). The earliest caniforms were superficially similar to martens, which are tree-dwelling mustelids. Together with feliforms, caniforms comprise the order Carnivora, sometimes Arctoidea can be considered a separate suborder from Caniformia and a sister taxon to Feliformia.
Paleontology in Delaware refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Delaware. There are no local rocks of Precambrian, Paleozoic, Triassic, or Jurassic age, so Delaware's fossil record does not begin until the Cretaceous period. As the Early Cretaceous gave way to the Late Cretaceous, Delaware was being gradually submerged by the sea. Local marine life included cephalopods like Belemnitella americana, and marine reptiles. The dwindling local terrestrial environments were home to a variety of plants, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs. Along with New Jersey, Delaware is one of the best sources of Late Cretaceous dinosaur fossils in the eastern United States. Delaware was still mostly covered by sea water through the Cenozoic era. Local marine life included manatees, porpoises, seals, and whales. Delaware was worked over by glaciers during the Ice Age. The Cretaceous belemnite Belemnitella americana is the Delaware state fossil.
Hadrokirus martini is an extinct species of true seal (Phocidae) that lived on the coast of Peru about 6 million years ago. It was found in the Pisco Formation, together with other marine animals such as crustaceans, sharks, coastal birds, whales and aquatic sloths. The main particularity of this seal dwells in its teeth: they are extremely robust, hence the name. It is assumed that Hadrokirus martini was durophagous, its diet probably comprised crustaceans, small bivalves and other shelled animals, as it is seen for instance in the living sea otter. The extant seals the most closely related to Hadrokirus martini are the Lobodontini.
Monotherium is an extinct genus of phocid belonging to the subfamily Monachinae. It is known from fossils found in the middle to late Miocene of Belgium.
Pliophoca is an extinct genus of seal in the family Phocidae.
Ichthyoconodon is an extinct genus of eutriconodont mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of Morocco. It is notable for having been found in a unique marine location, and the shape of its teeth suggests an unusual, potentially fish-eating ecological niche. Analysis suggests it is part of a group of gliding mammals that includes Volaticotherium.
Praepusa is an extinct genus of earless seals from Neogene marine deposits in Europe.
Homiphoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from the Pliocene of South Africa.
Frisiphoca is an extinct genus of phocid belonging to the subfamily Phocinae. It is known from fossils found in the late Miocene of Belgium.
Noriphoca is an extinct genus of phocid belonging to the subfamily Monachinae. It is known from the late Oligocene to early Miocene of Italy.
Auroraphoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from the early Pliocene of what is now the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.
Prototaria is an extinct genus of pinniped that lived approximately 15.97 to 13.65 mya during the Middle Miocene in what is now Japan. It belonged to the family Odobenidae, the only extant species of which is the walrus. Members of the genus Prototaria are believed to be the most basal imagotariine pinnipeds.
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