OTARIIDAE, Grey, 1825

Russell A. Mittermeier & Don E. Wilson, 2014, Otariidae, Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 4 Sea Mammals, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 34-101 : 34

Family OTARIIDAE

( EARED SEALS)

• Robust, heavy-bodied marine mammals with external ear flaps, body furred except foreflippers, and hindflippers that rotate forward to enable walking; adult males 1-5-2 times longer and 3-6 times heavier than adult females.

• 110-250 cm.

• All oceans except North Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

• Mainly temperate and subpolar seas, extending to tropics and polar waters, in estuarine, coastal, and pelagic zones.

• 7 genera, 15 species,at least 16 extant taxa.

• 3 species Endangered, 2 species Vulnerable; 1 species Extinct since 1600.

Systematics

The order Carnivora includes three families that have been placed historically into a group called “the pinnipeds,” which translates from the Latin as “fin-footed” or “feather-footed.” There are 16 modern species in the pinniped family Otariidae , or eared seals: 15 are extant and one is extinct. The Japanese Sea Lion ( Zalophus japonicus ) became extinct in the mid-20" century. The common name “eared” refers to the presence of external ear pinna. The Otariidae traditionally was divided into two subfamilies, the Arctocephalinae (fur seals), with two genera, Arctocephalus and Callorhinus , comprising nine species and four subspecies, and the Otarinae (sea lions), with five genera, Fumetopras, Phocarctos , Neophoca , Otaria , and Zalophus , comprising six species. The subfamilies were largely based on the presence of dense underfur in all fur seals and the lack of it in all sea lions. Most authors no longer recognize those subfamilies. Recently, it was proposed that the genus Arctophoca named by W. C. H. Peters in 1866 be resurrected for all southern fur seals of the genus Arctocephalus except the Afro-Australian Fur Seal ( Arctocephalus pusillus ), which would have been the sole remaining species of Arctocephalus . This proposal was considered premature in a subsequent publication, and the new taxonomy has not been adopted at this time.

The nine species of fur seals are the Northern Fur Seal ( Callorhinus ursinus ), the Antarctic Fur Seal ( Arctocephalus gazella ), the Subantarctic Fur Seal ( Arctocephalus tropicalis ), the South American Fur Seal ( Arctocephalus australis ), the New Zealand Fur Seal ( Arctocephalus forster), the Galapagos Fur Seal ( Arctocephalus galapagoensis ), the Juan Fernandez Fur Seal ( Arctocephalus phalippur), the Guadalupe Fur Seal ( Arctocephalus townsendi ), and the Afro-Australian Fur Seal, whith two subspecies, the “South African Fur Seal” (A. p. pusillus ) and the “Australian Fur Seal” (A. p. doriferus). The six species of sea lions are the California Sea Lion ( Zalophus californianus ), the Galapagos Sea Lion ( Zalophus wollebaeki ), the Steller Sea Lion ( Eumetopias jubatus), the South

Figures

• 110-250 cm.

• All oceans except North Atlantic and Arctic oceans.