The affinities of Afrophoca libyca from basal Middle Miocene of Gebel Zelten, Libya
Martin Pickford and Christian De Muizon
Re-interpretation of the holotype and only known speci-men of Afrophoca libyca reveals that it represents a me-dium -sized anthracothere, Afromeryx zelteni, a species that is common in the basal Middle Miocene deposits at Gebel Zelten, Libya. This re-identification affects several recently published papers that have accepted it as the earliest known phocid, with repercussions on biogeographic scenarios and phylogeny reconstructions.
Martin Pickford [martin.pickford@mnhn.fr; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9017-1107] and Christian de Muizon [christian.jourdain-de-muizon@ mnhn.fr; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1247-8867 ], Sorbonne Université (CR2P, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC-Paris VI) 8, rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
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