Leptophoca

Leptophoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from the North Atlantic realm.

Leptophoca Temporal range: Miocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Clade:	Pinnipedia
Family:	Phocidae
Subfamily:	Phocinae
Genus:	†Leptophoca True, 1906
Species
L. proxima (van Beneden, 1876) (type species) L. amphiatlantica Koretsky, Ray, and Peters, 2012

Taxonomy

Leptophoca lenis was coined by Frederick True for a humerus from the Calvert Formation of Maryland.^[1] Later, Clayton Ray referred "Prophoca" proxima from the Antwerp region, Belgium, to Leptophoca.^[2] A second nominal Leptophoca species, L. amphiatlantica, was coined for specimens found on both sides of the North Atlantic.^[3] A 2017 study found proxima and lenis to be the same species, rendering proxima the epithet of the Leptophoca type species, but evidence for the validity of L. amphiatlantica was deemed weak, rendering amphiatlantica a nomen dubium within Leptophoca.^[4]

References

1. True FW. 1906. Description of a new genus and species of fossil seal from the Miocene of Maryland. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 30(1475):835-840
2. Ray CE. 1976a. Geography of phocid evolution. Systematic Biology 25(4):391-406.
3. Irina A. Koretsky; Clayton E. Ray; Noud Peters (2012). "A new species of Leptophoca (Carnivora, Phocidae, Phocinae) from both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean (Miocene seals of the Netherlands, part I)". Deinsea. 15: 1–12.
4. Dewaele L, Lambert O, Louwye S. (2017) On Prophoca and Leptophoca (Pinnipedia, Phocidae) from the Miocene of the North Atlantic realm: redescription, phylogenetic affinities and paleobiogeographic implications. PeerJ 5:e3024 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3024