| Praepusa Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Clade: | Pinnipedia |
| Family: | Phocidae |
| Subfamily: | Phocinae |
| Genus: | † Praepusa Kretzoi, 1941 |
| Species | |
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Praepusa is an extinct genus of earless seals from Neogene marine deposits in Europe. Five species, P. boeska,P. magyaricus, P. pannonica, P. tarchankutica and P. vindoboensis, are known.
Praepusa's occipital bones possess well-developed jugular processes. The canine teeth are developed, and the molars are predominantly tricuspid in form, and, like the premolars, are packed closely together. The mandible as a whole is small and thin, [1] with a symphyseal portion that is bluntly rounded, and the chin is most prominent between premolars 3–4. [2] The facial part of the skull is relatively low and shortened, and the mandible is more compact. The deltoid crest of the humerus is sharp, with maximal distention at its proximal end. The trochanteric fossa of the femur is wide and medially open, though deep. [3]
There are five recognized species of Praepusa. P. boeska, known from Pliocene deposits in the Netherlands, is notable for being the smallest fossil seal, with a size comparable to the smallest extant seals of the genus Pusa . [4] The other species include P. magyaricus, found in Serravallian-age deposits in Hungary, [3] P. pannonica, known from Miocene marine deposits in the eastern Paratethys, [5] P. tarchankutica, known from the Miocene of Ukraine, [6] and P. vindobonensis, known from Miocene marine deposits in central and eastern Europe. [7]
Percrocuta is an extinct genus of hyena-like feliform carnivores. It lived in Europe, Asia, and Africa, during the Miocene epoch.
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.
Phocinae is a subfamily of Phocidae whose distribution is found in the seas surrounding the Holarctic, with the Baikal seal being the world's only freshwater species of pinniped. What distinguishes them from other phocid seals is the presence of well-developed claws on their front and back flippers. The Phocinae is divided into three extant tribes: Erignathini, Cystophorini, and Phocini. Members of both Erignathini and Cystophorini have 34 chromosomes, while species in the tribe Phocini have 32 chromosomes.
Machairodontini is an extinct tribe of large saber-toothed cats of the subfamily Machairodontinae, that lived in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, during the Middle and Late Miocene.
Arctoidea is a clade 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. The oldest group of the clade is the bears, as their CMAH gene is still intact. The gene became non-functional in the common ancestor of the Mustelida. 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 compose the order Carnivora; sometimes Arctoidea can be considered a separate suborder from Caniformia and a sister taxon to Feliformia.
Leptophoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from the North Atlantic realm.
Pliophoca is an extinct genus of seal in the family Phocidae.
Eomellivora is an extinct genus of prehistoric mustelids, closely related to the honey badger, known from Eurasia and North America, and tentatively Africa. It was one of the biggest mustelids ever known, bigger and more hypercarnivorous than the modern wolverine.
Nanophoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from the middle Miocene of Belgium.
Phocanella is an extinct genus of earless seals from the early Pliocene of Belgium and the US Eastern Seaboard.
Pontophoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from the middle-late Miocene of the eastern Paratethys basin and the North Sea.
Pachyphoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from Neogene marine deposits in the northern part of the Paratethys basin.
Platyphoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from Neogene marine deposits in the North Sea basin.
Gryphoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from Neogene marine deposits in the North Sea basin.
Afrophoca is an extinct genus of earless seal from Miocene-age marine deposits in Libya.
Pteronarctos is a genus of basal pinnipediform from middle Miocene marine deposits in Oregon.
Frisiphoca is an extinct genus of phocid belonging to the subfamily Phocinae. It is known from fossils found in the late Miocene of Belgium.
This paleomammalogy list records new fossil mammal taxa that were described during the year 2015, as well as notes other significant paleomammalogy discoveries and events which occurred during that year.
Diamantofelis is an extinct genus of felids that lived in what is now Namibia during the Early Miocene. It contains a single species, Diamantofelis ferox.
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