Phocinae, Gray, 1821

Gol’din, Pavel, Haiduc, Bogdan Stelian, Kovalchuk, Oleksandr, Górka, Marcin, Otryazhyi, Pavlo, Brânzilă, Mihai, Păun, Elena Ionela, Barkaszi, Zoltán, Ţibuleac, Paul & Răţoi, Bogdan Gabriel, 2020, The Volhynian (late Middle Miocene) marine fishes and mammals as proxies for the onset of the Eastern Paratethys re-colonisation by vertebrate fauna, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 43) 23 (3), pp. 1-20 : 9

Phocinae indet. 2

Figure 5A

Material and locality. Scapula bearing the glenoid fossa, and a caudal vertebra; Stăuceni.

Description. A slender neck of the glenoid portion, a high glenoid fossa, and the slenderness of the scapula support the tentative identification of the fragmentary specimen as Phocinae . The glenoid fossa is deep and the glenoid tubercle is high, the angle between the anterior part and the scapular neck is smaller than in many other seals. The scapular neck is short, and the size of the fragment is small, which may indicate that this specimen represents a young individual.

Comparison. The specimen resembles Praepusa sp. from the Sarmatian s.s. of Hungary and Austria ( Koretsky, 2001, 2003) by the structure of glenoid fossa and the anterior edge of the scapula. The glenoid fossa in Pachyphoca chapskii is flatter and the glenoid tubercle is low. This specimen also differs from Nanophoca and Monachopsis by a greater angle between the scapular neck and the anterior edge of the bone.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Marine mammals from the Volhynian beds of the Moldavian Platform: A – Phocinae indet. 2, scapula and caudal vertebra, Stăuceni; B – Kentriodon fuchsii, a lumbar vertebra, dorsal and posterior view, Basarabi; C – Kentriodontidae indet. 1 (cf. Imerodelphis thabagarii), lumbar vertebra, dorsal and anterior view, Saur-Mohyla; D – Kentriodontidae indet. 2, caudal vertebra, anterior and lateral view, Stăuceni; E – Kentriodontidae indet. 2, thoracic vertebra, anterior view, Stâncești; F – Kentriodontidae indet. 3, caudal vertebra, anterior and lateral view, Stăuceni; G – Pachyacanthus sp., thoracic vertebra, anterior and lateral view, Vilkhovets; H – Cetotheriidae indet., caudal vertebra, dorsal and lateral view, Stăuceni; I-J –? Mysticeti indet. (“Archaeocetus fockii”), rib fragment, lateral view and cross-section (I), caudal vertebra (J), dorsal and lateral view, Drăgușeni. Scale bars equal 2 cm in A–I and 5 cm in J.