Monotherium Explained

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 the Tortonian-age Diest Formation of Antwerp, Belgium, on the basis of the lectotype pelvis IRSNB 1153-M257a, b.^[1]

Monotherium affine and M. aberratum were previously assigned to this genus, as well as "Phoca" gaudini, but the former two are now considered a distinct genus, Frisiphoca, while gaudini has been renamed Noriphoca. The middle Miocene phocid "Phoca" wymani Leidy, 1853 was assigned to Monotherium by Ray (1976), but was considered a monachine of uncertain affinities.^{[2] [3] [4]}

Notes and References

1. P. J. Van Beneden. 1874. Les phoques fossiles du bassin d'Anvers. Bulletins de l'Academie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique 41:783-803
2. J. Leidy. 1854. The ancient fauna of Nebraska 1-126
3. C. E. Ray. 1976. Phoca wymani and other Tertiary seals (Mammalia: Phocidae) described from the eastern seaboard of North America. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 28:1-33
4. Leonard Dewaele; Olivier Lambert; Stephen Louwye (2018). "A critical revision of the fossil record, stratigraphy and diversity of the Neogene seal genus Monotherium (Carnivora, Phocidae)". Royal Society Open Science. 5 (5): 171669. doi:10.1098/rsos.171669.