Gryphoca is an extinct genus of earless seals from Neogene marine deposits in the North Sea basin.

Gryphoca
Temporal range: Miocene–Pliocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Clade: Pinnipedia
Family: Phocidae
Subfamily: Phocinae
Genus: Gryphoca
van Beneden, 1876
Species
  • G. similis van Beneden, 1876 (type species)
  • G. nordica Koretsky, Rahmat, and Peters, 2014

Fossils

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There are two recognized species of Gryphoca, G. similis and G. nordica. G. similis is known from Pliocene marine deposits in the Antwerp region of Belgium, while fossils of P. nordica have been found in the Tortonian-age Gram Formation in Denmark.[1][2]

References

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  1. ^ Van Beneden, P-J. (1877). "Description des ossements fossiles des environs d’Anvers. Première partie: Pinnipèdes ou amphithériens". Annales du Musée Royal d’Histoire Naturelle de Belgique 1:1–88.
  2. ^ I. Koretsky, S. Rahmat, and N. Peters (2014). "Rare late Miocene seal taxa (Carnivora, Phocidae) from the North Sea Basin". Vestnik zoologii 48(5):419–432. doi:10.2478/vzoo-2014-0050 S2CID 86558045