Pinniped Taxonomy Ma#hew S. Leslie SIO 133 – Marine Mammal Biology Summer 2016 Pinnipedia – “Feather Footed” •  Distributed worldwide – in all oceans •  Three lineages (clades) – 28% of diversity of marine mammals •  Phocids (Earless seals – 19 spp) – hugely abundant •  Otariids (Eared seals – 16 spp) •  Odobenids (Walrus – 1 sp) Pinniped Phylogeny Comparisons of Otariids & Phocids What do you see here? LactaUon Strategies of Pinnipeds Pinniped Phylogeny Otariidae (eared seals) •  External ear pinnae •  Swim with front flippers •  External testes in males •  Can walk on all four limbs – pelvis rotates •  Thinner blubber, thicker hair •  Sexually dimorphic Otariidae (7gen; 16 spp) Arctocephalinae (Fur seals) Name means “bear-­‐head” (2 gen; 9 spp) Otariinae (Sea lions) (5 gen; 7 spp; 1 exBnct) Otariinae (sea lion clade; 7spp) Stellar’s Sea Lion (Eumetopias jubatus) Largest otariid Sexually dimorphic Males up to 1000kg females 350kg Australian Sea Lion (Neophoca cinerea) Otariinae (sea lion clade; 7spp) South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens) New Zealand sea lion (Phocarctos hookeri) Otariinae (sea lion clade; 7spp) California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) Sexually dimorphic Males hold territories on land & sea Pupping season May – July (Central CA to Central MX) 2013-­‐2015 “Unusual Mortality Event” Otariinae (sea lion clade; 7spp) Galapagos sea lion (Zalophus wollebaeki) Japanese sea lion (Zalophus japonicus) ExUnct in 1970s By Nkensei from ja, CC BY-­‐SA 3.0, h#ps://commons.wikimedia.org/w/
index.php?curid=2549927 Otariidae (7gen; 16 spp) Arctocephalinae (Fur seals) Name means “bear-­‐head” (2 gen; 9 spp) Thought to be most primiUve group of extant pinnipeds Otariinae (Sea lions) (5 gen; 7 spp; 1 exBnct) Arctocephalinae -­‐ Fur seals (2 gen; 9 spp) AntarcBc fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) South American fur seal (Arctocephalus australis) By Mirko Thiessen -­‐ own image, based on Image:BlankMap-­‐World.png, CC Arctocephalinae -­‐ Fur seals (2 gen; 9 spp) New Zealand fur seal (Arctocephalus fosteri) Deepest diver of fur seals SubantarcBc fur seal (Arctocephalus tropicalis) Arctocephalinae -­‐ Fur seals (2 gen; 9 spp) Brown fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus) 2 subspecies: A. p. pusillus (Cape fur seal) A. p. doriferus (Australian fur seal) By Mirko Thiessen -­‐ own image, based on Image:BlankMap-­‐World.png, CC Arctocephalinae -­‐ Fur seals (2 gen; 9 spp) Guadalupe fur seal (Arctocephalus townsendii) once considered exUnct Rediscovered in 1954 (14 indiv) Remains rarest of all fur seals www.sciencenutshell.com Arctocephalinae -­‐ Fur seals (2 gen; 9 spp) Galapagos fur seal (Arctocephalus galapagoensis) Northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) By Mirko Thiessen -­‐ own image, based on Image:BlankMap-­‐World.png, CC Arctocephalinae -­‐ Fur seals (2 gen; 9 spp) Juan Fernandez fur seal (Arctocephalus phillipii) considered exUnct rediscovered in 1965 Remains rare Pinniped Phylogeny Modern Odobenids (1 gen; 1 spp) Odobenus rosmarus •  Two subspecies*: –  O. r. divergens (N. Pacific) –  O. r. rosmarus (N. AtlanUc) *(O. r. laptevi – Laptev Sea) • 
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No external ears Can walk on all fours Swims with hind flippers Benthic feeder Circumpolar distribuUon h#p://www.arkive.org/walrus/odobenus-­‐rosmarus/video-­‐08.html Pinniped Phylogeny Phocidae (earless seals) •  Largest, and most wide-­‐spread distribuUon –  “90% of esUmated 50 million est. pinnipeds are Phocids” •  Swim with hind flippers •  Can’t walk on all four limbs •  Think blubber, thin hair •  In general, bigger than Otariids Phocidae (13 gen; 19 spp; 1 exUnct) Phocinae (Northern seals or Ice seals) Monochinae (Southern and AntarcBc seals) Species of Phocinae (7 gen; 10 spp) Bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) Largest of Northern Phocinae Eats benthic fish and invertebrates Rounded fore-­‐flippers Very vocal underwater h#p://www.arkive.org/bearded-­‐seal/erignathus-­‐barbatus/video-­‐00.html Hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) Males use extensible nasal pouch to a#ract females Species of Phocinae (7 gen; 10 spp) Harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) Ribbon seal (Histriophoca fasciata) Grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) NOAA-­‐AFSC BBC.co.uk Species of Phocinae (7 gen; 10 spp) Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) SpoVed seal (Phoca largha) Species of Phocinae (7 gen; 10 spp) Baikal seal (Pusa sibirica) Only fresh-­‐water pinniped (Lake Baikal, Russia) Caspian seal (Pusa caspica) Also land-­‐locked in Caspian Sea Ringed seal (Pusa hispida) Smallest of all seals (1.5m) Species of Monochinae (7 gen; 9 spp; 1 exUnct) Mediterranean monk seal (<600 ind.) (Monachus monachus) Species of Monochinae (7 gen; 9 spp; 1 exUnct) Hawaiian monk seal (app 1000 ind) (Neomonachus schauinslandi) Species of Monochinae (7 gen; 9 spp; 1 exUnct) Caribbean monk seal (Neomonachus tropicalis) – exUnct 1950s Species of Monochinae (7 gen; 9 spp) Elephant seals – Genus Mirounga Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) Species of Monochinae (7 gen; 9 spp) Elephant seals – Genus Mirounga Northern elephant seal (Mirounga angusQrostris) Species of Monochinae (7 gen; 9 spp) AntarcBc Ice seals Leopard seal (Hydruga leptonyx) Species of Monochinae (7 gen; 9 spp) AntarcBc Ice seals Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) h#ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wVEqHOlYd4 Species of Monochinae (7 gen; 9 spp) AntarcBc Ice seals Ross seal (Ommatophoca rossi) Species of Monochinae (7 gen; 9 spp) AntarcBc Ice seals: Crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophagus) Most abundant pinniped (maybe most abundant large mammal) in the world