''Neomonachus'' is a genus of

earless seal 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 t ...

s, within the family Phocidae. It contains two species: the endangered

Hawaiian monk seal The Hawaiian monk seal (''Neomonachus schauinslandi'') is an endangered species of earless seal in the family Phocidae that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian monk seal is one of two extant monk seal species; the other is the M ...

, and the extinct

Caribbean monk seal The Caribbean monk seal (''Neomonachus tropicalis''), also known as the West Indian seal or sea wolf, was a species of seal native to the Caribbean which is now believed to be extinct. The main predators of Caribbean monk seals were sharks and h ...

. Prior to 2014, all three species of

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 mona ...

s were placed in the genus ''

Monachus The Mediterranean monk seal (''Monachus monachus'') is a monk seal belonging to the family Phocidae. , it is estimated that fewer than 700 individuals survive in three or four isolated subpopulations in the Mediterranean, (especially) in the Ae ...

'', but that was found to be

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

Species

References

Phocins Mammal genera Mammal genera with one living species Taxa named by Graham J. Slater Taxa named by Kristofer M. Helgen {{carnivora-stub