First monk seal from the Southern Hemisphere rewrites the evolutionary history of true seals.

ABSTRACT: Living true seals (phocids) are the most widely dispersed semi-aquatic marine mammals, and comprise geographically separate northern (phocine) and southern (monachine) groups. Both are thought to have evolved in the North Atlantic, with only two monachine lineages-elephant seals and lobodontins-subsequently crossing the equator. The third and most basal monachine tribe, the monk seals, have hitherto been interpreted as exclusively northern and (sub)tropical throughout their entire history. Here, we describe a new species of extinct monk seal from the Pliocene of New Zealand, the first of its kind from the Southern Hemisphere, based on one of the best-preserved and richest samples of seal fossils worldwide. This unanticipated discovery reveals that all three monachine tribes once coexisted

SUBMITTER: Rule JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7735288 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature