Mammalia - Carnivora - Phocidae
Alternative combination: Prophoca proxima
Full reference: P. J. Van Beneden. 1876. 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
Belongs to Leptophoca according to J. P. Rule and T. Park 2024
See also Berta et al. 2018, Berta et al. 2022, Dewaele 2026, Dewaele et al. 2017, Friant 1947, Kellogg 1922, Kienle and Berta 2019, Koretsky 2001, Ray 1976, Trouessart 1898, Trouessart 1904, Van Beneden 1876 and Vanden Broeck 1874
Sister taxon: Leptophoca lenis
Type specimen: IRSN 1146 Ct. M 279, a limb element (humerus). Its type locality is Vieux-Dieu, which is in a Langhian/Serravallian open shallow subtidal sandstone in the Berchem Formation of Belgium.
Ecology: amphibious piscivore-carnivore
Distribution:
• Miocene of Belgium (5 collections), the Netherlands (1), United States (3: Maryland, Virginia)
Total: 9 collections each including a single occurrence
Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.
Click image to enlarge. Click to access iDigBio record.