The affinities of Afrophoca libyca from basal Middle Miocene of Gebel Zelten, Libya

Abstract

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.