Monotherium is an extinct genus of phocid belonging to the subfamily Monachinae. It is known from fossils found in the middle to late Miocene of Belgium.
| Monotherium Temporal range:
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Clade: | Pinnipedia |
| Family: | Phocidae |
| Genus: | †Monotherium van Beneden, 1874 |
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Species
editThe type and only species of Monotherium is M. delognii, described from the Tortonian-age Diest Formation of Antwerp, Belgium, on the basis of the lectotype pelvis IRSNB 1153-M257a, b.[1]
Monotherium affine and M. aberratum were previously assigned to this genus, as well as "Phoca" gaudini, but the former two are now considered a distinct genus, Frisiphoca, while gaudini has been renamed Noriphoca. The middle Miocene phocid "Phoca" wymani Leidy, 1853 was assigned to Monotherium by Ray (1976), but was considered a monachine of uncertain affinities.[2][3][4]
References
edit- ^ P. J. Van Beneden. 1874. Les phoques fossiles du bassin d'Anvers. Bulletins de l'Academie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique 41:783-803
- ^ J. Leidy. 1854. The ancient fauna of Nebraska 1-126
- ^ C. E. Ray. 1976. Phoca wymani and other Tertiary seals (Mammalia: Phocidae) described from the eastern seaboard of North America. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 28:1-33
- ^ Leonard Dewaele; Olivier Lambert; Stephen Louwye (2018). "A critical revision of the fossil record, stratigraphy and diversity of the Neogene seal genus Monotherium (Carnivora, Phocidae)". Royal Society Open Science. 5 (5): 171669. doi:10.1098/rsos.171669.
