Mirounga leonina (Linnaeus 1758)

[Phoca] leonina Linnaeus 1758, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., Vol. 1: 37.

Type Locality: "ad polum Antarcticum" restricted by Thomas (1911 a) to "Juan Fernandez", further restricted by Hamilton (1940) as " Isla Mas a Tierra" [Chile] .

Vernacular Names: Southern Elephant Seal.

Synonyms: Mirounga crosetensis (Lydekker 1909); Mirounga falclandica (Peters 1875); Mirounga kerguilensis (Peters 1875); Mirounga macquariensis (Lydekker 1909); Mirounga typicus (Lydekker 1909) .

Distribution: Circumpolar mainly in the subantarctic zone, including Antarctica, Macquarie, Kerguelen, S Georgia Isls, and Argentina (Peninsula Valdez). Vagrant populations recorded at Australia, Brazil, Chile, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Oman, Uruguay.

Conservation: CITES – Appendix II; IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Reviewed by Ling and Bryden (1992). Synonyms allocated according to Bryden (1995). Subspecies not recognized, following Lönnberg (1910); however see Carrick et al. (1962).