Phoca
| Phoca | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Phocidae |
| Genus: | Phoca Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Species | |
| |
Phoca is a genus of the earless seals, within the family Phocidae. It now contains just two species, the common seal and the spotted seal (or largha seal). Several species formerly listed under this genus have been split into the genera Pusa, Pagophilus, and Histriophoca. For this reason, the fossil history of the genus is unclear, and it has formerly been used as wastebasket taxon for a number of fossils of uncertain affinity.[1]
Species
Currently there are two members:
- Phoca largha (spotted seal)
- Phoca vitulina (common seal)
Former members of Phoca:
- Histriophoca fasciata (ribbon seal)
- Pusa caspica (Caspian seal)
- Pusa hispida (ringed seal)
- Pusa sibirica (nerpa or Baikal seal)
- Pagophilus groenlandica (harp seal)
References
- ↑ Berta, A. & Churchill, M. (2012). "Pinniped Taxonomy: evidence for species and subspecies". Mammal Review 42 (3): 207–234. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2907.2011.00193.x.
External links
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