Neophoca palatina

Neophoca palatina; Temporal range: Pleistocene
	The adult male skull holotype in Auckland Museum.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Clade:	Pinnipedia
Family:	Otariidae
Genus:	Neophoca
Species:	†N. palatina
Binomial name
	†Neophoca palatina; (King, 1983)

Neophoca palatina, the Pleistocene New Zealand sea lion, is an extinct species of pinniped known from a nearly-complete adult male skull found at Ōhope Beach on the North Island in 1937. It was found in a stratum from the late Castlecliffian stage, suggesting an approximate age of 400,000 years. It was not recognised as representing a new species until 1983,^[1] distinguishable from the extant Australian sea lion and New Zealand sea lion by the short palate (leading Dr. J. A. Berry to suggest the species name), lack of processes on the ethmoid bulla and the very wide basiocciptal. A more advanced morphometric analysis in 2016 strongly confirmed that the skull represented a distinct species, closely related to the Australian sea lion.^[2] Paleoclimate reconstructions^[3] suggest that N. palatina was more tolerant of cold water temperatures than N. cinerea, the only other known member of the genus.

References[]

^ King, Judith E. (30 March 2010). "The Ohope skull—a new species of Pleistocene sealion from New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research. 17 (2): 105–120. doi:10.1080/00288330.1983.9515990.
^ Churchill, Morgan; Boessenecker, Robert W. (16 June 2016). "Taxonomy and biogeography of the Pleistocene New Zealand sea lion Neophoca palatina (Carnivora: Otariidae)". Journal of Paleontology. 90 (2): 375–388. doi:10.1017/jpa.2016.15. S2CID 88990647.
^ Schaefer, Grace; Rodger, J. Stuart; Hayward, Bruce W.; Kennett, James P.; Sabaa, Ashwaq T.; Scott, George H. (March 2005). "Planktic foraminiferal and sea surface temperature record during the last 1 Myr across the Subtropical Front, Southwest Pacific". Marine Micropaleontology. 54 (3–4): 191–212. Bibcode:2005MarMP..54..191S. doi:10.1016/j.marmicro.2004.12.001.

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[King83-1] King, Judith E. (30 March 2010). "The Ohope skull—a new species of Pleistocene sealion from New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research. 17 (2): 105–120. doi:10.1080/00288330.1983.9515990.

[Churchill16-2] Churchill, Morgan; Boessenecker, Robert W. (16 June 2016). "Taxonomy and biogeography of the Pleistocene New Zealand sea lion Neophoca palatina (Carnivora: Otariidae)". Journal of Paleontology. 90 (2): 375–388. doi:10.1017/jpa.2016.15. S2CID 88990647.

[Schaefer05-3] Schaefer, Grace; Rodger, J. Stuart; Hayward, Bruce W.; Kennett, James P.; Sabaa, Ashwaq T.; Scott, George H. (March 2005). "Planktic foraminiferal and sea surface temperature record during the last 1 Myr across the Subtropical Front, Southwest Pacific". Marine Micropaleontology. 54 (3–4): 191–212. Bibcode:2005MarMP..54..191S. doi:10.1016/j.marmicro.2004.12.001.

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