Nanophoca

Nanophoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from the middle Miocene of Belgium.

Nanophoca
Temporal range: Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Clade: Pinnipediformes
Clade: Pinnipedia
Family: Phocidae
Subfamily: Phocinae
Genus: †Nanophoca
Dewaele, Amson, Lambert, and Louwye, 2017
Species

Taxonomy

In 1871, Pierre-Joseph van Beneden erected "Phoca" vitulinoides for a maxilla, atlas, sacrum, ulna, two ankle bones, and phalanx from Miocene deposits in the Antwerp region of Belgium. In later papers, he referred some additional material to the species. van Beneden interpreted "P." vitulinoides as a close relative of the harbor seal.[1][2][3]

The assignment of vitulinoides to Phoca was cast into doubt in two papers published in 2008 concerning fossil phocids from the North Atlantic realm. Koretsky and Ray (2008) designated the sacrum the lectotype of "P. vitulinoides but nonetheless treated the species as dubious.[4][5] Based on the discovery of more complete specimens, "Phoca" vitulinoides was finally given its own generic name, Nanophoca. Because the original lectotype material is lost, the partial skeleton IRSNB M2276 has been designated the neotype.[6]

Biology

The skeletal anatomy of Nanophoca indicates that it could enhance use of its front flippers to capture prey.

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References
  1. Van Beneden P-J. 1871. Les phoques de la mer scaldisienne. Bulletin de l’Acad�emie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-arts de Belgique, 2ie `me s�erie 32:5–19.
  2. Van Beneden P-J. 1876. Les phoques fossiles du basin d’Anvers. Bulletin de l’Acad�emie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique 41:783–802.
  3. Van Beneden P-J. 1877. Description des ossements fossiles des environs d’Anvers, premie `re partie. Pinnipe `des ou amphith�eriens. Annales du Mus�ee Royal d’Histoire Naturelle de Belgique 1:1–88.
  4. Koretsky IA, Ray CE. 2008. Phocidae of the Pliocene of Eastern North America. Virginia Museum of Natural History, Special Publication 14:81–40.
  5. Koretsky IA, Peters N. 2008. Batavipusa (Carnivora, Phocidae, Phocinae): a new genus from the eastern shore of the North Atlantic Ocean (Miocene seals of the Netherlands, part II). Deinsea 12(1):53–62.
  6. Leonard Dewaele; Eli Amson; Olivier Lambert; Stephen Louwye (2017). "Reappraisal of the extinct seal "Phoca" vitulinoides from the Neogene of the North Sea Basin, with bearing on its geological age, phylogenetic affinities, and locomotion". PeerJ. 5: e3316. doi:10.7717/peerj.3316.
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