Pliophoca Temporal range: late Pliocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓

Partial fossil skeleton of Pliophoca etrusca
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Clade:	Pinnipedia
Family:	Phocidae
Genus:	†Pliophoca Tavani, 1941 ^[1]
Species
P. etrusca Tavani 1941 (type)

Pliophoca is an extinct genus of seal in the family Phocidae.

Fossil record

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]

Bibliography

References

^ G. Tavani. 1941. Revisione dei resti del pinnipede conservato nel museo di geologia di Pisa. Palaeontographica Italica 40:97-112
^ A. Koretsky and C. E. Ray. 2008. Phocidae of the Pliocene of eastern USA. Virginia Museum of Natural History Special Publication 14:81-140
^ Leonard Dewaele; Carlos Mauricio Peredo; Pjotr Meyvisch; Stephen Louwye (2018). Diversity of late Neogene Monachinae (Carnivora, Phocidae) from the North Atlantic, with the description of two new species. Royal Society Open Science 5 (3): 172437. doi:10.1098/rsos.172437.
^ Pliocene Italiano - Pliophoca etrusca
^ Annalisa Berta, Sarah Kienlead, Giovanni Bianucci & Silvia Sorbi A Reevaluation of Pliophoca etrusca (Pinnipedia, Phocidae) from the Pliocene of Italy: Phylogenetic and Biogeographic Implications Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology - Volume 35, Issue 1, 2015

Genera of pinnipeds and their stem-allies

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Caniformia
Infraorder: Arctoidea

Pan-Pinnipedia

†Amphicynodontidae	Allocyon Amphicticeps Amphicynodon Drassonax Kolponomos Pachycynodon Parictis Wangictis
†Semantoridae	Necromites Potamotherium Puijila Semantor

Pinnipedimorpha

†Enaliarctos

Pinnipediformes

†Pacificotaria
†Pinnarctidion
†Pteronarctos

Pinnipedia

Phocidae

†Devinophoca

Monachinae

†Magnotherium
Monachini	†Afrophoca †Auroraphoca †Messiphoca Monachus Neomonachus †Eomonachus †Noriphoca †Palmidophoca †Pliophoca †Pontophoca †Pristiphoca †Terranectes
Miroungini	†Callophoca Mirounga
Lobodontini	†Acrophoca †Australophoca †Hadrokirus †Homiphoca Hydrurga Leptonychotes Lobodon Ommatophoca †Piscophoca †Properiptychus †Virginiaphoca

Phocinae

†Cryptophoca †Frisiphoca †Kawas †Leptophoca †Monachopsis †Monotherium †Phocanella †Prophoca †Sarmatonectes
Erignathini	Erignathus †Platyphoca
Cystophorini	Cystophora †Miophoca †Pachyphoca
Phocini	†Batavipusa †Gryphoca Halichoerus Histriophoca †Nanophoca Pagophilus Phoca †Planopusa †Praepusa Pusa

Otarioidea	see below↓

Otarioidea

†Desmatophocidae

Allodesmus
Atopotarus
Desmatophoca
Eodesmus

Odobenidae

†Archaeodobenus
†Imagotaria
†Kamtschatarctos
†Nanodobenus
†Neotherium
†Osodobenus
†Pelagiarctos
†Pontolis
†Proneotherium
†Prototaria
†Pseudotaria
†Titanotaria

Neodobenia

†Dusignathinae	Dusignathus Gomphotaria
Odobeninae	†Aivukus Odobenus †Ontocetus †Pliopedia †Protodobenus †Valenictus

Panotariidae

†Eotaria

Otariidae

Callorhinae

Callorhinus
†Pithanotaria

Otariinae

†Thalassoleon
Zalophini	Eumetopias †Oriensarctos †Proterozetes Zalophus
Otariini	Arctocephalus Arctophoca †Hydrarctos Neophoca Otaria Phocarctos

Lists
List of pinnipeds List of fossil pinnipedimorphs