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Taxonomy
Paratethyphoca libera was named by Otriazhyi et al. (2025). Its type specimen is MCFFM V-150, a partial skeleton, and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Mîrzeşti, which is in a Tortonian marine limestone in Moldova. It is the type species of Paratethyphoca.
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Paratethyphoca libera Otriazhyi et al. p. 7 figs. Figs. 3-9 |
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If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.
†Paratethyphoca libera Otriazhyi et al. 2025
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| P. Otriazhyi et al. 2025 | Paratethyphoca libera belongs to Phocinae in having (1) an ascending process of the premaxilla outside the nasal cavity and visible laterally, (2) a great development of the humeral supinator, and (3) a trochlea of humerus larger than a capitulum. It differs from all Monachinae in a pointed (rather than flattened) distal end of the styloid process of the ulna, and the metatarsal III longer than half of the metatarsal I.
Paratethyphoca libera differs from all Phocinae in the presence of a supraorbital process of the frontal bone in the posterior portion of the bone, a unique autapomorphic feature (other Phocinae lack it, or, in the case of Cystophora cristata, have it in the anterior portion of the frontal). It further differs from all Phocinae in a proportionally long humerus (as long as 88% of the skull length). Paratethyphoca libera also differs from most Phocinae but Monachopsis pontica in its long snout (as long as the orbits). It differs from all crown Phocinae except Erignathus barbatus in having a well-developed chin prominence of the mandible (also shared by Monachopsis pontica). It is distinguished from all Phocinae except some of the Paratethyan seals (e.g., NMNHU-P 64–707, ONU 3721, ZKM P-612), in a shallow supraspinous fossa of the scapula (20% of the bone length from the glenoid fossa to the dorsal margin), and further differs from NMNHU-P 64–707 in a convex cranial scapular edge. Paratethyphoca libera also differs from most Phocinae in several features of its humerus: a humeral lesser tubercle below the level of the humeral head (also shared by Devinophoca spp., Praepusa spp., Cryptophoca maeotica NMNHU-P 64–530, Pontophoca sarmatica NMNHU-P 64–1713/10, Pachyphoca ukrainica NMNHU-P 64–701, Phoca bessarabica AICUPM SF-3); a smooth distal termination of the deltoid crest (contrary to a sharp distal termination) (shared by Pachyphoca ukrainica, Pontophoca sarmatica, and Devinophoca spp.), and it further differs from other Paratethyan seals (except for Pachyphoca ukrainica and Pontophoca sarmatica) in a deltoid crest distally reaching only half of the bone length. |
Measurements
No measurements are available
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| Source: f = family, c = class, uc = unranked clade | |||||
| References: Nowak 1991, Carreño and Cronin 1993, Hendy et al. 2009, Gingerich 2003 | |||||