Pusa
| Pusa | ||||||||||||
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Baikal seal ( Pusa sibirica ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pusa | ||||||||||||
| Scopoli , 1771 |
Pusa is a genus of dog seals , which was previously listed as a sub-genus of real dog seals . It comprises the ringed seal ( Pusa hispida ) and the two adapted to life in freshwater species Baikal seal ( Pusa sibirica ) and Caspian Seal ( Pusa caspica ) three species, all occurring in the northern hemisphere.
Freshwater species
In this genus also the only two species of fresh water are classified: The Baikal seal ( P. sibirica ) on Siberian Lake Baikal and the Caspian Seal ( P. caspica ) on the Caspian Sea . Both species probably descend from the ringed seal ( P. hispida ), whose ancestors reached these lakes either during glaciation in the middle or via sea connections in the late Pleistocene and have lived there in isolation ever since.
Systematics
The genus Pusa currently includes three species:
- Ringed Seal ( Pusa hispida )
- Baikal seal ( Pusa sibirica )
- Caspian seal ( Pusa caspica )
These three species were originally added to the genus of the real dog seals together with the harp seal ( Pagophilus groenlandicus ) , which however was dissolved and today only contains the harbor seal ( Phoca vitulina ) and the largha seal ( Phoca largha ).
According to the cladistic analyzes of Bininda-Emonds and Russell, the entire genus was paraphyletic with regard to the bearded seal ( Erignathus barbatus ), and according to Palo and Väinöla possibly also with regard to the gray seal ( Halichoerus grypus ). As a basal species, the Largha seal could also be the sister species of all other representatives, and the monophyly of the two freshwater species with the ringed seal is also questioned at the molecular level by Palo and Väinöla.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c Jukka U. Palo, Risto Väinölä: The enigma of the landlocked Baikal and Caspian seals addressed through phylogeny of phocine mitochondrial sequences. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society Volume 88 (1); Pages 61-72
- ↑ Don E. Wilson & DeeAnn M. Reeder (eds.): Pusa in Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed).
- ↑ Olaf RP Bininda-Emonds & AP Russell: A morphological perspective on the phylogenetic relationships of the extant phocid seals (Mammalia: Carnivora: Phocidae) . In: Bonner Zoologische Monographien 1996, Vol. 41, pp. 1–256
