A critical revision of the fossil record, stratigraphy and diversity of the Neogene seal genus Monotherium (Carnivora, Phocidae)
Historically, Monotherium had been one of the few genera of extinct Phocidae (true seals) that served as a wastebin taxon. Consequently, it did neither aid in understanding phylogenetic relationships of extinct Phocidae, nor in understanding seal diversity in deep time. This urged the reassessment o...
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ftunivgent:oai:archive.ugent.be:8564331 2023-06-11T04:14:32+02:00 A critical revision of the fossil record, stratigraphy and diversity of the Neogene seal genus Monotherium (Carnivora, Phocidae) Dewaele, Leonard Lambert, Olivier Louwye, Stephen 2018 application/pdf https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8564331 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8564331 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171669 https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8564331/file/8564332 eng eng https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8564331 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8564331 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171669 https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8564331/file/8564332 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE ISSN: 2054-5703 Earth and Environmental Sciences Biology and Life Sciences Phocidae Monotherium Neogene North Atlantic North Sea Basin DINOFLAGELLATE CYST STRATIGRAPHY BASIN NORTHERN BELGIUM MIDDLE MIOCENE ACRITARCH EVENTS MARINE MAMMALS SOUTHERN PLIOCENE PHYLOGENY EVOLUTION BIOGEOGRAPHY journalArticle info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2018 ftunivgent https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171669 2023-05-10T22:41:40Z Historically, Monotherium had been one of the few genera of extinct Phocidae (true seals) that served as a wastebin taxon. Consequently, it did neither aid in understanding phylogenetic relationships of extinct Phocidae, nor in understanding seal diversity in deep time. This urged the reassessment of the genus. Before our review, Monotherium included five different species: Monotherium aberratum, Monotherium affine, and Monotherium delognii from Belgium; Monotherium gaudini from Italy; and Monotherium? wymani from the east coast USA. In this work we redescribe the fossil record of the genus, retaining the type species M. delognii. Monotherium aberratum and M. affine are reassigned to the new phocine genus Frisiphoca. Monotherium gaudini is renamed and considered a stem-monachine (Noriphoca gaudini). The holotype of the monachine M.? wymani requires further study pending the discovery of new fossil material that could be attributed to the same taxon. Reinvestigating the stratigraphic context reveals that N. gaudini most likely represents one of the two oldest named phocid seals, or even the oldest, dated to the late Oligocene-earliest Miocene. Our results allow questioning the widespread idea that Phocidae originated in the western Atlantic and better appreciate their palaeobiogeography during the late Oligocene-Miocene interval in the North Atlantic realm. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Ghent University Academic Bibliography Royal Society Open Science 5 5 171669 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Ghent University Academic Bibliography |
op_collection_id |
ftunivgent |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth and Environmental Sciences Biology and Life Sciences Phocidae Monotherium Neogene North Atlantic North Sea Basin DINOFLAGELLATE CYST STRATIGRAPHY BASIN NORTHERN BELGIUM MIDDLE MIOCENE ACRITARCH EVENTS MARINE MAMMALS SOUTHERN PLIOCENE PHYLOGENY EVOLUTION BIOGEOGRAPHY |
spellingShingle |
Earth and Environmental Sciences Biology and Life Sciences Phocidae Monotherium Neogene North Atlantic North Sea Basin DINOFLAGELLATE CYST STRATIGRAPHY BASIN NORTHERN BELGIUM MIDDLE MIOCENE ACRITARCH EVENTS MARINE MAMMALS SOUTHERN PLIOCENE PHYLOGENY EVOLUTION BIOGEOGRAPHY Dewaele, Leonard Lambert, Olivier Louwye, Stephen A critical revision of the fossil record, stratigraphy and diversity of the Neogene seal genus Monotherium (Carnivora, Phocidae) |
topic_facet |
Earth and Environmental Sciences Biology and Life Sciences Phocidae Monotherium Neogene North Atlantic North Sea Basin DINOFLAGELLATE CYST STRATIGRAPHY BASIN NORTHERN BELGIUM MIDDLE MIOCENE ACRITARCH EVENTS MARINE MAMMALS SOUTHERN PLIOCENE PHYLOGENY EVOLUTION BIOGEOGRAPHY |
description |
Historically, Monotherium had been one of the few genera of extinct Phocidae (true seals) that served as a wastebin taxon. Consequently, it did neither aid in understanding phylogenetic relationships of extinct Phocidae, nor in understanding seal diversity in deep time. This urged the reassessment of the genus. Before our review, Monotherium included five different species: Monotherium aberratum, Monotherium affine, and Monotherium delognii from Belgium; Monotherium gaudini from Italy; and Monotherium? wymani from the east coast USA. In this work we redescribe the fossil record of the genus, retaining the type species M. delognii. Monotherium aberratum and M. affine are reassigned to the new phocine genus Frisiphoca. Monotherium gaudini is renamed and considered a stem-monachine (Noriphoca gaudini). The holotype of the monachine M.? wymani requires further study pending the discovery of new fossil material that could be attributed to the same taxon. Reinvestigating the stratigraphic context reveals that N. gaudini most likely represents one of the two oldest named phocid seals, or even the oldest, dated to the late Oligocene-earliest Miocene. Our results allow questioning the widespread idea that Phocidae originated in the western Atlantic and better appreciate their palaeobiogeography during the late Oligocene-Miocene interval in the North Atlantic realm. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dewaele, Leonard Lambert, Olivier Louwye, Stephen |
author_facet |
Dewaele, Leonard Lambert, Olivier Louwye, Stephen |
author_sort |
Dewaele, Leonard |
title |
A critical revision of the fossil record, stratigraphy and diversity of the Neogene seal genus Monotherium (Carnivora, Phocidae) |
title_short |
A critical revision of the fossil record, stratigraphy and diversity of the Neogene seal genus Monotherium (Carnivora, Phocidae) |
title_full |
A critical revision of the fossil record, stratigraphy and diversity of the Neogene seal genus Monotherium (Carnivora, Phocidae) |
title_fullStr |
A critical revision of the fossil record, stratigraphy and diversity of the Neogene seal genus Monotherium (Carnivora, Phocidae) |
title_full_unstemmed |
A critical revision of the fossil record, stratigraphy and diversity of the Neogene seal genus Monotherium (Carnivora, Phocidae) |
title_sort |
critical revision of the fossil record, stratigraphy and diversity of the neogene seal genus monotherium (carnivora, phocidae) |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8564331 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8564331 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171669 https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8564331/file/8564332 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE ISSN: 2054-5703 |
op_relation |
https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8564331 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8564331 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171669 https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8564331/file/8564332 |
op_rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171669 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
171669 |
_version_ |
1768392617236627456 |