''Noriphoca'' is an extinct genus of
phocid
The earless seals, phocids or true seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal lineage, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae (). They are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from th ...
belonging to the subfamily
Monachinae
Monachinae (known colloquially as "Southern seals") is a subfamily of Phocidae whose distribution is found in the tropical, temperate and polar regions of the southern hemisphere, though in the distant past fossil representatives have been foun ...
. It is known from the late
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
to early
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
Species
The type species of ''Noriphoca'', ''N. gaudini'', was originally named ''Phoca gaudini'' on the basis of a skull from late Oligocene to earliest Miocene deposits in Chiento, Italy. Later authors referred it to either ''
Monotherium
''Monotherium'' is an extinct genus of phocid belonging to the subfamily Monachinae. It is known from fossils found in the middle to late Miocene of Belgium.
Species
The type and only species of ''Monotherium'' is ''M. delognii'', described from ...
'', ''
Pristiphoca'', or the physeteroid genus ''
Paleophoca''. However, it was later shown that ''P. gaudini'' cannot be referred to ''Monotherium'' as the latter was probably
phocine and not monachine, and erected ''Noriphoca'' for the stem-monachine species ''P. gaudini''.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q53014899
Miocene pinnipeds
Prehistoric carnivoran genera
Monachines
Chattian first appearances
Aquitanian extinctions
Prehistoric pinnipeds of Europe
Fossil taxa described in 2018