A late surviving Pliocene seal from high latitudes of the North Atlantic realm: the latest monachine seal on the southern margin of the North Sea
Background The family of true seals, the Phocidae, is subdivided into two subfamilies: the southern Monachinae, and the northern Phocinae, following the subfamilies’ current distribution: extant Monachinae are largely restricted to the (sub-)Antarctic and the eastern Pacific, with historical distrib...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:3ca7a9a4a53d44968f4dcc84af810896 2024-01-07T09:38:36+01:00 A late surviving Pliocene seal from high latitudes of the North Atlantic realm: the latest monachine seal on the southern margin of the North Sea Leonard Dewaele Olivier Lambert Stephen Louwye 2018-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5734 https://doaj.org/article/3ca7a9a4a53d44968f4dcc84af810896 EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/5734.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/5734/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.5734 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/3ca7a9a4a53d44968f4dcc84af810896 PeerJ, Vol 6, p e5734 (2018) Mammalia Phocidae Monachinae Pliocene North Atlantic North Sea Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5734 2023-12-10T01:50:00Z Background The family of true seals, the Phocidae, is subdivided into two subfamilies: the southern Monachinae, and the northern Phocinae, following the subfamilies’ current distribution: extant Monachinae are largely restricted to the (sub-)Antarctic and the eastern Pacific, with historical distributions of the monk seals of the genus Monachus in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and around Hawaii; and Phocinae to the northern temperate and Arctic zones. However, the fossil record shows that Monachinae were common in the North Atlantic realm during the late Miocene and early Pliocene. Until now, only one late Pliocene record is known from the Mediterranean, Pliophoca etrusca from Tuscany, Italy, but none from farther north in the North Atlantic. Methods We present the description of one partial phocid humerus collected in the early 20th century from the Antwerp area (Belgium), with an assessment of its stratigraphic origin using data from the literature. Results The studied humerus was recovered during construction works at the former Lefèvre dock in the Antwerp harbour (currently part of the America dock). Combining the information associated to the specimen with data from the literature and from local boreholes, the upper Pliocene Lillo Formation is ascertained as the lithological unit from which the specimen originates. Morphologically, among other features the shape of the deltopectoral crest and the poor development of the supinator crest indicates a monachine attribution for this specimen. The development of the deltopectoral crest is closer to the condition in extant Monachinae than in extinct Monachinae. Discussion The presented specimen most likely represents a monachine seal and a literature study clearly shows that it came from the latest early to late Pliocene Lillo Formation. This would be the first known monachine specimen from the latest early to late Pliocene of the North Sea, and more broadly from the northern part of the North Atlantic realm. This humerus differs from the humerus of P. etrusca ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Arctic North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Arctic Lefèvre ENVELOPE(-63.533,-63.533,-64.833,-64.833) Pacific PeerJ 6 e5734 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Mammalia Phocidae Monachinae Pliocene North Atlantic North Sea Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
spellingShingle |
Mammalia Phocidae Monachinae Pliocene North Atlantic North Sea Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Leonard Dewaele Olivier Lambert Stephen Louwye A late surviving Pliocene seal from high latitudes of the North Atlantic realm: the latest monachine seal on the southern margin of the North Sea |
topic_facet |
Mammalia Phocidae Monachinae Pliocene North Atlantic North Sea Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
Background The family of true seals, the Phocidae, is subdivided into two subfamilies: the southern Monachinae, and the northern Phocinae, following the subfamilies’ current distribution: extant Monachinae are largely restricted to the (sub-)Antarctic and the eastern Pacific, with historical distributions of the monk seals of the genus Monachus in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and around Hawaii; and Phocinae to the northern temperate and Arctic zones. However, the fossil record shows that Monachinae were common in the North Atlantic realm during the late Miocene and early Pliocene. Until now, only one late Pliocene record is known from the Mediterranean, Pliophoca etrusca from Tuscany, Italy, but none from farther north in the North Atlantic. Methods We present the description of one partial phocid humerus collected in the early 20th century from the Antwerp area (Belgium), with an assessment of its stratigraphic origin using data from the literature. Results The studied humerus was recovered during construction works at the former Lefèvre dock in the Antwerp harbour (currently part of the America dock). Combining the information associated to the specimen with data from the literature and from local boreholes, the upper Pliocene Lillo Formation is ascertained as the lithological unit from which the specimen originates. Morphologically, among other features the shape of the deltopectoral crest and the poor development of the supinator crest indicates a monachine attribution for this specimen. The development of the deltopectoral crest is closer to the condition in extant Monachinae than in extinct Monachinae. Discussion The presented specimen most likely represents a monachine seal and a literature study clearly shows that it came from the latest early to late Pliocene Lillo Formation. This would be the first known monachine specimen from the latest early to late Pliocene of the North Sea, and more broadly from the northern part of the North Atlantic realm. This humerus differs from the humerus of P. etrusca ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Leonard Dewaele Olivier Lambert Stephen Louwye |
author_facet |
Leonard Dewaele Olivier Lambert Stephen Louwye |
author_sort |
Leonard Dewaele |
title |
A late surviving Pliocene seal from high latitudes of the North Atlantic realm: the latest monachine seal on the southern margin of the North Sea |
title_short |
A late surviving Pliocene seal from high latitudes of the North Atlantic realm: the latest monachine seal on the southern margin of the North Sea |
title_full |
A late surviving Pliocene seal from high latitudes of the North Atlantic realm: the latest monachine seal on the southern margin of the North Sea |
title_fullStr |
A late surviving Pliocene seal from high latitudes of the North Atlantic realm: the latest monachine seal on the southern margin of the North Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
A late surviving Pliocene seal from high latitudes of the North Atlantic realm: the latest monachine seal on the southern margin of the North Sea |
title_sort |
late surviving pliocene seal from high latitudes of the north atlantic realm: the latest monachine seal on the southern margin of the north sea |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5734 https://doaj.org/article/3ca7a9a4a53d44968f4dcc84af810896 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-63.533,-63.533,-64.833,-64.833) |
geographic |
Antarctic Arctic Lefèvre Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Arctic Lefèvre Pacific |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic North Atlantic |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 6, p e5734 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/5734.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/5734/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.5734 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/3ca7a9a4a53d44968f4dcc84af810896 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5734 |
container_title |
PeerJ |
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6 |
container_start_page |
e5734 |
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1787424221424517120 |