Phoca

Phoca is a genus of the earless seals, (Phocidae). It now contains just two species, the common seal and the spotted seal. Several species formerly listed under this genus have been split into the genera Pusa, Pagophilus, and Histriophoca. Until recently, Phoca largha has been considered a subspecies of Phoca vitulina but now is considered its own species. For this reason, the fossil history of the genus is unclear, and it has formerly been used as wastebasket taxon for a number of fossils of uncertain affinity.

Phoca

Uncredited · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
sealPBDB
Sits inside
PhocinaePBDB
Diet
piscivore, carnivorePBDB, for Phocidae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Pinnipedia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Pinnipedia

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 159 occurrencesMiocene — about 5 of 159 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 159 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 55 of 159 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 145 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

159 occurrences of Phoca on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

159 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

6 formations

Palos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.28°WRed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°EPort Orford — 42.83°N, 124.55°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°EGubik — 70.50°N, 153.50°WChersonian — 46.97°N, 31.99°E

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The named rock units Phoca has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 150 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

913 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 144 sites for Phoca, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

71 references

Each of the 159 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 59 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Phoca

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Phoca vitulina · lepblb:PV-CSL-966-000010

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPhocinae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758