Phoca wymani and other Tertiary seals (Mammalia, Phocidae) described from the eastern seaboard of North America

Related Titles

Related/Analytical: Phoca wymani and other Tertiary seals ...

Series: Smithsonian contributions to paleobiology, no. 28

By

Ray, Clayton Edward.

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1976

Notes

Fossil seal remains from Richmond, Virginia, first reported by Wyman in 1850, and named Phoca wymani by Leidy in 1853, have been neglected and unjustifiably regarded as cetacean by most subsequent authors. Recently recognized parts of the holotype and other material, in part recently collected in Richmond, show that the species is a monachine seal, here called Monotherium? wymani (Leidy, 1853a). It is derived from Miocene beds that are definitely older than the Yorktown Formation and probably correlative with the Calvert Formation of Maryland. Thus Monotherium? wymani is probably the oldest known monachine. Other evidence of fossil phocids in eastern North America is reviewed.

Subjects

North America , Paleontology , Phoca wymani , Phocidae, Fossil , Tertiary

BHL Collections

Unearthed! Smithsonian Libraries' Paleo Collection

Call Number

QE701 .S56 no. 28

Language

English

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810266.28.1
LCCN: https://lccn.loc.gov/75619303
OCLC: 1735126