PBDB Taxon

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Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Cystophora cristata (hooded seal)

Mammalia - Carnivora - Phocidae

Taxonomy

Phoca cristata was named by Erxleben (1779). It is extant.

It was recombined as Cystophora cristata by Nilsson (1847), Gray (1850), Gill (1866), Gray (1866), Allen (1880), Trouessart (1898), Hay (1902), Trouessart (1904), Turner (1912), Hay (1930), Friant (1947), Sherman (1952), Scheffer and Rice (1963), Kurten and Anderson (1980), Kovacs and Lavigne (1986), Riedman (1990), Koretsky (2001), Deméré et al. (2003), Davis et al. (2004), Cullen et al. (2014), Berta et al. (2018) and Kienle and Berta (2019).

Synonyms

Cystophora borealis was named by Nilsson (1820). It is extant.

It was synonymized subjectively with Cystophora cristata by Hay (1930) and Kovacs and Lavigne (1986).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1777	Phoca cristata Erxleben
1779	Phoca cristata Erxleben p. 590
1820	Cystophora borealis Nilsson
1847	Cystophora cristata Nilsson p. 299
1850	Cystophora cristata Gray p. 36
1866	Cystophora cristata Gill p. 6
1866	Cystophora cristata Gray p. 41
1880	Cystophora cristata Allen p. 724
1898	Cystophora cristata Trouessart p. 378
1902	Cystophora cristata Hay p. 785
1904	Cystophora cristata Trouessart p. 282
1912	Cystophora cristata Turner p. 193
1930	Cystophora cristata Hay p. 561
1947	Cystophora cristata Friant p. 5
1952	Cystophora cristata Sherman p. 90
1963	Cystophora cristata Scheffer and Rice p. 4
1980	Cystophora cristata Kurten and Anderson p. 207
1986	Cystophora cristata Kovacs and Lavigne p. 1
1990	Cystophora cristata Riedman p. 57 figs. Table 2
2001	Cystophora cristata Koretsky p. 87
2003	Cystophora cristata Deméré et al. p. 49 figs. Fig. 3.3
2004	Cystophora cristata Davis et al. p. 365
2014	Cystophora cristata Cullen et al. p. 1471 figs. Figure 1
2018	Cystophora cristata Berta et al. p. 210 figs. Fig. 2
2019	Cystophora cristata Kienle and Berta

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
subclass	Synapsida
—	Therapsida	()
infraorder	Cynodontia	()
—	Mammaliamorpha
—	Mammaliaformes
class	Mammalia
—	Theriamorpha	(Rowe 1993)
—	Theriiformes	()

Rank	Name	Author
—	Trechnotheria
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Boreoeutheria
—	Laurasiatheria
—	Scrotifera
—	Ferae	()
—	Carnivoramorpha	Wyss and Flynn 1993
—	Carnivoraformes	Flynn et al.
order	Carnivora
suborder	Caniformia	Kretzoi 1943
infraorder	Canoidea	(Simpson 1931)
superfamily	Arctoidea	Flower 1869
—	Panpinnipedia	Wolsan et al. 2020
—	Pinnipedimorpha
—	Pinnipedia	()
superfamily	Phocoidea	Smirnov 1908
family	Phocidae	()
subfamily	Phocinae
genus	Cystophora	Nilsson 1820
species	cristata	(Erxleben 1779)

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.

Cystophora cristata Erxleben 1779 [hooded seal]

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Invalid names: Cystophora borealis Nilsson 1820 [synonym]

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
K. M. Kovacs and D. M. Lavigne 1986	Cystophora is distinguished from most other phocid seals by its incisor formula (2/1), the possession of an inflatable proboscis (Fig. la), and the general shape and appearance of the postcanine teeth (King, 1966). In all these characteristics it resembles Mirounga. However, the structure and mechanism of inflation of the proboscis of these two seals is different (Allen, 1880; Berland, 1958, 1966; Gray, 1866; Merriam, 1884). In addition to the inflatable hood (Fig. lb), male Cystophora possess the unique ability to blow from one nostril, usually the left, a red, balloonshaped, nasal septum (Fig. lc, d). Diagnostic skull characteristics (Figs. 2 and 3), associated primarily with the inflatable nasal appendage, are described from King (1972): the cranium is short with a long, wide snout; the interorbital area is toward the back of the skull; the dorsal junction of the maxilla and jugal projects laterally and forms a shoulder rather than a smooth outline; the orbit proper occurs anterior to the jugal; frontonasal area is elevated; nasal openings are wider than in any other phocid; premaxillae, which have a distinct dorsal ridge, do not meet the nasals; the narial basin is "key-hole shaped"; nasals project beyond the anterior edge of the maxilla by about a third of their length; the maxilla is reduced between the preorbital process and the rear edge of the narial basin; the palate is elongate posteriorly, more so than other phocids; the hamular process of the pterygoid is closer to the anterior border of the tympanic bulla than to the front edge of the zygomatic arch; mastoid region is visible on the dorsal aspect of the skull; ventrally the petrosal is visible projecting into the foramen lacerum posterius.