The walrus auditory region and the monophyly of pinnipeds

Title Variants

Alternative: Monophyly of pinnipeds

Related Titles

Series: American Museum novitates, no. 2871

By

Wyss, André R.

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

New York, N.Y, American Museum of Natural History, c1987

Notes

Title from caption.

"April 6, 1987."

"Within the customary tripartite division of pinnipeds a grouping of the Odobenidae (walruses) and Otariidae (sea lions) to the exclusion of the Phocidae (seals) has been almost universally recognized. An anatomical review of features, primarily of the auditory region, however, reveals that odobenids share a significant number of derived characters with phocids. The evidence supporting the traditional otariid/odobenid grouping is examined and is found to consist almost exclusively of primitive, and therefore phylogenetically uninformative, characters. A review of characters that have been proposed as supporting the widely accepted alliance of phocids and mustelids reveals that they fail to provide compelling evidence for pinniped diphyly; the arguments for diphyly are further weakened by acceptance of a phocid-walrus relationship. Some aspects of the cranial morphology of several putative early Miocene otarioids are reviewed, and it is suggested that Pinnarctidion and Allodesmus are actually better regarded as members of a group including phocids and odobenids. Thus, the major morphological gap between the highly derived phocids and their presumed sister group may largely be filled. A cladogram depicting a sister-group relationship between odobenids and phocids, the monophyly of pinnipeds, and the tentative relationships of these fossil taxa is presented"--P. [1].

Subjects

Anatomy , Classification , Ear , Ear ossicles , Odobenidae , Phylogeny , Pinnipedia , Pinnipedia, Fossil , Walrus

Call Number

QL1 .A436 no.2871, 1987

Language

English

Identifiers

OCLC: 15731571