Monotherium is an extinct genus of phocid belonging to the subfamily Monachinae. It is known from fossils found in the middle to late Miocene of Belgium.

Monotherium
Temporal range: Miocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Clade: Pinnipedia
Family: Phocidae
Genus: Monotherium
van Beneden, 1874
Species
  • M. delognii (type)
    van Beneden, 1874

Species edit

The type and only species of Monotherium is M. delognii, described from the Tortonian-age Diest Formation of Antwerp, Belgium, on the basis of the lectotype pelvis IRSNB 1153-M257a, b.[1]

Monotherium affine and M. aberratum were previously assigned to this genus, as well as "Phoca" gaudini, but the former two are now considered a distinct genus, Frisiphoca, while gaudini has been renamed Noriphoca. The middle Miocene phocid "Phoca" wymani Leidy, 1853 was assigned to Monotherium by Ray (1976), but was considered a monachine of uncertain affinities.[2][3][4]

References edit

  1. ^ P. J. Van Beneden. 1874. Les phoques fossiles du bassin d'Anvers. Bulletins de l'Academie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique 41:783-803
  2. ^ J. Leidy. 1854. The ancient fauna of Nebraska 1-126
  3. ^ C. E. Ray. 1976. Phoca wymani and other Tertiary seals (Mammalia: Phocidae) described from the eastern seaboard of North America. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 28:1-33
  4. ^ Leonard Dewaele; Olivier Lambert; Stephen Louwye (2018). "A critical revision of the fossil record, stratigraphy and diversity of the Neogene seal genus Monotherium (Carnivora, Phocidae)". Royal Society Open Science. 5 (5): 171669. doi:10.1098/rsos.171669.