Pliophoca etrusca
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Pliophoca Temporal range: Miocene - Quaternary |
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| Partial fossil skeleton of Pliophoca etrusca | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Phocidae |
| Genus: |
Pliophoca Tavani, 1941 |
Pliophoca is an extinct genus of earless seal in the family Phocidae.
This genus is known in the fossil records from the Miocene to the Quaternary (age range: from 5.332 to 0.0 million years ago). Fossils are found in the marine strata of Italy, Morocco, Spain. Egypt and United States.
Species within this genus include:
This fossil species of seal, ancestor of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) was found only in the late Pliocene (Piacenzian) areas of Orciano and Volterra in Tuscany. It was a species endemic to the Mediterranean Sea.
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