''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. It is known from the late
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...
to early
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), 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 mea ...
of
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
.
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'', ''
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
Monotypic prehistoric carnivoran genera
Monachines
Chattian first appearances
Aquitanian extinctions
Prehistoric pinnipeds of Europe
Fossil taxa described in 2018