Platyphoca Van Beneden 1877

• Main Authors: Koretsky, I., Rahmat, S., Peters, N.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Chordata; Mammalia; Carnivora; Phocidae; Platyphoca; Beneden; Van Beneden; Mølle; Erignathus barbatus
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/6462225; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6462225

Genus Platyphoca Van Beneden, 1877 1876 a Platyphoca Van Beneden: 798 (nom. nud.); *1877 Platyphoca Van Beneden: 67–68; 1904 Phoca (Platyphoca) Trouessart: 285; 1909 Platyphoca Dollo: 118; 1922 Platyphoca Kellogg: 117; 1945 Platyphoca Simpson: 122; 1947 Phoca (Platyphoca) Friant: 7, 10, 14; 1958 Platyphoca Misonne: 22; 1964 Platyphoca King: 131; 1977 Platyphoca Ray: 94; 1983 Platyphoca Savage, Russell: 294; 1992 Platyphoca Muizon: 36; 1997 Platyphoca McKenna, Bell: 258; 2008 Platyphoca Koretsky, Ray: 84–85, 103–105. T y p e s p e c i e s: Platyphoca vulgaris Van Beneden, 1877, by original monotypy. Holotype from middle (?) Pliocene (Scaldisian) deposits in the Antwerp area, Belgium. S t r a t i g r a p h i c a l r a n g e. The type species is also known from the Pliocene (5.0– 5.8 ma) Yorktown Formation of the eastern United States. Herein, we introduce a new species from the late Miocene (early-middle Tortonian, 8.0–11.5 ma) Gram Formation of Gram and Skaerum MØlle, Jutland, western Denmark. R e f e r r e d m a t e r i a l. Humeri, 2nd phalanx, innominata, metatarsal IV, tibia, and humeri from the Antwerp area, Belgium, from western Denmark, and from the eastern United States (see Koretsky, Ray, 2008). E m e n d e d d i a g n o s i s. Deltoid crest of humerus very short and terminating at less than 1/2 of length of bone; from base of lesser tubercle, along medial surface of bone, passes a crest that is only slightly shorter than deltoid crest; maximal enlargement of deltoid crest in its proximal part; intertubercular groove very shallow and not well defined; both epicondyles well developed and very wide; distal part of each epicondyle flat. D i s c u s s i o n. Platyphoca vulgaris (pl. 3, 1A–1B) was originally mentioned by Van Beneden (1876 a), who considered it to be very close to the Recent Erignathus barbatus. The size of the humerus approaches that of Erignathus more closely than any other phocid. This poorly known, obscure, but distinctive species was described on the basis of only a few bones of the ...