Pachyphoca
{{Short description|Extinct genus of carnivores}}
{{Italic title}}
{{automatic taxobox
| name = Pachyphoca
| image =
| image_caption =
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Miocene}}
| display_parents = 2
| taxon = Pachyphoca
| authority = Koretsky and Rahmat, 2013
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = * P. ukrainica Koretsky and Rahmat, 2013 (type species)
- P. chapskii Koretsky and Rahmat, 2013
- P. volkodavi Tarasenko, 2022
}}
Pachyphoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from Neogene marine deposits in the northern part of the Paratethys basin.
Description
There are three recognized species of Pachyphoca: P. ukrainica, P. volkodavi, and P. chapskii. Both P. ukrainica and P. chapskii have been found in Serravallian-Tortonian-aged marine deposits in Ukraine.I. A. Koretsky and S. J. Rahmat. 2013. First record of fossil Cystophorinae (Carnivora, Phocidae): Middle Miocene seals from the northern Paratethys. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 119(3):325-350. P. volkodavi, the newest of the three species to be discovered, were discovered from seal remains from Upper Miocene deposits in the Republic of Adygea.{{Cite journal |last=Tarasenko |first=K. K. |date=November 2022 |title=A New Seal Species of the Genus Pachyphoca (Cystophorinae, Phocidae) from the Late Miocene of the North Caucasus |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1134/S1028334X22600621 |journal=Doklady Earth Sciences |language=en |volume=507 |issue=1 |pages=916–919 |doi=10.1134/S1028334X22600621 |issn=1028-334X|url-access=subscription }} Pachyphoca ukrainica was the smaller of the two species, and shows more adaptations for terrestrial locomotion compared to the larger P. chapskii.{{cite book |last1=Berta |first1=Annalisa |title=The Rise of Marine Mammals: 50 Million Years of Evolution |date=2017 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=9781421423265 |page=106}}
The aforementioned species of the genus Pachyphoca exhibited thick and dense bones that are characteristic of pachyosteosclerosis. It is believed that seals with such an adaptation dive to shallow depths and swim slowly allowing them to hunt slow moving bottom preys.
References
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{{Pan-Pinnipedia|P.}}
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Category:Prehistoric carnivoran genera