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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 the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae. Seals live in the oceans of both hemispheres and, with the exception of the more tropical monk seals, are mostly confined to polar, subpolar, and temperate climates. The Baikal seal is the only species of exclusively freshwater seal. Taxonomy and evolution Evolution The earliest known fossil earless seal is '' Noriphoca gaudini'' from the late Oligocene or earliest Miocene ( Aquitanian) of Italy. Other early fossil phocids date from the mid-Miocene, 15 million years ago in the north Atlantic. Until recently, many researchers believed that phocids evolved separately from otariids and odobenids; and that they evolved from otter-like animals, such as '' Potamotherium'', which in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phocides
''Phocides'' is a genus of butterflies in the skipper family, Hesperiidae, in which it is placed in tribe Phocidini, of which it is the namesake genus. The distribution of the genus is primarily Neotropical, but a few species occur in the Nearctic. Species * '' Phocides belus'' Godman & Salvin, 893/small> Mexico * ''Phocides charon'' (C. & R. Felder, 1859) Brazil, Paraguay * '' Phocides distans'' (Herrich-Schäffer, 1869) ** ''P. distans distans'' Venezuela ** ''P. distans licinus'' (Möschler, 1879) Colombia, Panama ** ''P. distans silva'' Evans, 1952 Peru * ''Phocides johnsoni'' Bell, 1947 Colombia * ''Phocides lincea'' (Herrich-Schäffer, 1869) ** ''P. lincea lincea '' Brazil ** ''P. lincea perkinsi'' (Kaye, 1931) Jamaica * ''Phocides metrodorus'' Bell, 1932 ** ''P. metrodorus metrodorus'' Colombia ** ''P. metrodorus metron'' Evans, 1952 Paraguay ** ''P. metrodorus nigrescens '' Bell, 1938 Colombia * ''Phocides novalis'' Evans, 1952 Peru * ''Phocides oreides'' (Hewits ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinniped
Pinnipeds (pronounced ), commonly known as seals, are a widely range (biology), distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammal, marine mammals. They comprise the extant taxon, extant family (biology), families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walrus), Otariidae (the eared seals: sea lions and fur seals), and Phocidae (the earless seals, or true seals). There are 34 extant species of pinnipeds, and more than 50 extinct species have been described from fossils. While seals were historically thought to have descended from two ancestral lines, molecular phylogenetics, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic lineage (descended from one ancestral line). Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora; their closest living relatives are Musteloidea, musteloids (Mustelidae, weasels, Procyonidae, raccoons, skunks, and red pandas), having diverged about 50 million years ago. Seals range in size from the and Baikal sea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phocinae
Phocinae (known colloquially as "Northern seals") is a subfamily of Phocidae whose distribution is found in the seas surrounding the Holarctic, with the Baikal seal (''Pusa sibirica'') being the world's only freshwater species of pinniped. What distinguishes them from other phocid seals is the presence of well-developed claws on their front and back flippers. The Phocinae is divided into three extant tribes: Erignathini (represented by the sole extant Bearded seal The bearded seal (''Erignathus barbatus''), also called the square flipper seal, is a medium-sized pinniped that is found in and near to the Arctic Ocean. It gets its generic name from two Greek words (''eri'' and ''gnathos'') that refer to its h ... ''Erignathus barbatus''), Cystophorini (another extant monotypic tribe represented by Hooded seal ''Cystophora cristata''), and Phocini (represented by the rest of the other surviving species in the subfamily). Members of both Erignathini and Cystophorini have 34 chr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 found on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean. The difference between members of this group and members of Phocinae is in monachines the hindclaws are greatly reduced in size. Furthermore, all species have 34 chromosomes. There are three tribes recognized here: Monachini (monk seals), Miroungini (elephant seals), and Lobodontini The true seal tribe Lobodontini, collectively known as the Antarctic seals or lobodontin seals, consist of four species of seals in four genera: the crabeater seal (''Lobodon carcinophaga''), the leopard seal (''Hydrurga leptonyx''), the Weddell ... (Antarctic seals and a handful of Afroamerican fossil genera). While today represented by eight extant and one recently extinct species, Monachinae had an incredib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walrus
The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the family Odobenidae and genus ''Odobenus''. This species is subdivided into two subspecies: the Atlantic walrus (''O. r. rosmarus''), which lives in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific walrus (''O. r. divergens''), which lives in the Pacific Ocean. Adult walrus are characterised by prominent tusks and whiskers, and their considerable bulk: adult males in the Pacific can weigh more than and, among pinnipeds, are exceeded in size only by the two species of elephant seals. Walruses live mostly in shallow waters above the continental shelves, spending significant amounts of their lives on the sea ice looking for benthic bivalve mollusks to eat. Walruses are relatively long-lived, social animals, and they are considered to be a " keyston ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monk Seal
Monk seals are earless seals of the tribe Monachini. They are the only earless seals found in tropical climates. The two genera of monk seals, ''Monachus'' and ''Neomonachus'', comprise three species: the Mediterranean monk seal, ''Monachus monachus''; the Hawaiian monk seal, ''Neomonachus schauinslandi''; and the Caribbean monk seal, ''Neomonachus tropicalis'', which became extinct in the 20th century. The two surviving species are now rare and in imminent danger of extinction. All three monk seal species were classified in genus ''Monachus'' until 2014, when the Caribbean and Hawaiian species were placed into a new genus, ''Neomonachus''. Monk seals have a slender body and are agile. They have a broad, flat snout with nostrils on the top. Monk seals are polygynous, and group together in harems. They feed mainly on bony fish and cephalopods, but they are opportunistic. The skin is covered in small hairs, which are generally black in males and brown or dark gray in females. Monk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otariids
An eared seal or otariid or otary is any member of the marine mammal family Otariidae, one of three groupings of pinnipeds. They comprise 15 extant taxon, extant species in seven genus, genera (another species became extinct in the 1950s) and are commonly known either as sea lions or fur seals, distinct from true seals (phocids) and the walrus (Odobenidae, odobenids). Otariids are adapted to a semiaquatic lifestyle, feeding and migrating in the water, but breeding and resting on land or ice. They reside in subpolar, temperate, and equatorial waters throughout the Pacific and Southern Oceans and the southern Indian Ocean, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. They are conspicuously absent in the north Atlantic. The words 'otariid' and 'otary' come from the Greek language, Greek ' meaning "little ear", referring to the small but visible external ear flaps (pinnae), which distinguishes them from the Phocidae, phocids. Evolution and taxonomy Morphological and molecular evidence supports a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eared Seal
An eared seal or otariid or otary is any member of the marine mammal family Otariidae, one of three groupings of pinnipeds. They comprise 15 extant species in seven genera (another species became extinct in the 1950s) and are commonly known either as sea lions or fur seals, distinct from true seals (phocids) and the walrus ( odobenids). Otariids are adapted to a semiaquatic lifestyle, feeding and migrating in the water, but breeding and resting on land or ice. They reside in subpolar, temperate, and equatorial waters throughout the Pacific and Southern Oceans and the southern Indian and Atlantic Oceans. They are conspicuously absent in the north Atlantic. The words 'otariid' and 'otary' come from the Greek ' meaning "little ear", referring to the small but visible external ear flaps ( pinnae), which distinguishes them from the phocids. Evolution and taxonomy Morphological and molecular evidence supports a monophyetic origin of pinnipeds, sharing a common ancestor with Mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pholcidae
The Pholcidae are a family of araneomorph spiders. The family contains over 1,800 individual species of pholcids, including those commonly known as cellar spider, daddy long-legs spider, carpenter spider, daddy long-legger, vibrating spider, gyrating spider, long daddy, and skull spider. The family, first described by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1850, is divided into 94 genera. The common name "daddy long-legs" is used for several species, especially '' Pholcus phalangioides'', but is also the common name for several other arthropod groups, including harvestmen and crane flies. Appearance Pholcids are thin and delicate arachnids. The body, resembling the shape of a peanut, is approximately 2–10 mm (0.08–0.39 inch) in length, and the legs may be up to 50 mm (1.97 inches) long. ''Pholcus'' and ''Smeringopus'' have cylindrical abdomens and eyes arranged in two lateral groups of three and two smaller median contiguous eyes. Arrangements of eight and six ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Lion
Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. The sea lions have six extant and one extinct species (the Japanese sea lion) in five genera. Their range extends from the subarctic to tropical waters of the global ocean in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, with the notable exception of the northern Atlantic Ocean. They have an average lifespan of 20–30 years. A male California sea lion weighs on average about and is about long, while the female sea lion weighs and is long. The largest sea lions are Steller's sea lions, which can weigh and grow to a length of . Sea lions consume large quantities of food at a time and are known to eat about 5–8% of their body weight (about ) at a single feeding. Sea lions can move around in water and at their fastest they can r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoca
''Phoca'' ( ) is a genus of the earless seals, within the family Phocidae, source of the French name for seal, 'phoque'. It now contains just two species, the common seal (or harbour seal) and the spotted seal (or largha 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. Species Currently there are two members: Former members of ''Phoca'': * ''Histriophoca fasciata'' ( ribbon seal) * ''Pusa caspica'' (Caspian seal) * ''Pusa hispida'' (ringed seal) * ''Pusa sibirica'' (nerpa or Baikal seal) * ''Pagophilus groenlandica'' (harp seal) Mating ecology Both harbour and spotted seals are aquatically mating pinnipeds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phocoenidae
Porpoises are a group of fully aquatic marine mammals, all of which are classified under the family Phocoenidae, parvorder Odontoceti (toothed whales). Although similar in appearance to dolphins, they are more closely related to narwhals and belugas than to the true dolphins. There are eight extant species of porpoise, all among the smallest of the toothed whales. Porpoises are distinguished from dolphins by their flattened, spade-shaped teeth distinct from the conical teeth of dolphins, and lack of a pronounced beak, although some dolphins (e.g. Hector's dolphin) also lack a pronounced beak. Porpoises, and other cetaceans, belong to the clade Cetartiodactyla with even-toed ungulates. Porpoises range in size from the vaquita, at in length and in weight, to the Dall's porpoise, at and . Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism in that the females are larger than males. They have streamlined bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers. Porpoises use ech ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
