identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
03ACB35ADC76FF9CFF7AF913FEDEF904.text	03ACB35ADC76FF9CFF7AF913FEDEF904.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Balaenidae Gray 1821	<div><p>Family Balaenidae Gray, 1821</p><p>Genus and species indeterminate</p><p>Referred specimen. NMV P218269, incomplete right periotic; anterior and superior processes virtually complete, but pars cochlearis almost entirely worn off, and only anteriormost base of posterior process preserved (Fig. 3A).</p><p>Description. P218269 is highly polished and abraded. The anterior process is blunt and globose, being indistinct from the superior process. There is marked lateral exostosis of the superior process lateral to the epitympanic recess. The lateral aspect of the anterior process is rugose and pitted. Posteriorly, this pitting decreases in density. Only the lateralmost region of the pars cochlearis is preserved. In medial view, the most notable feature is the sulcus for the facial nerve (cr. VII), the course of cr. VII being preserved from its entry into the body of the periotic at the aperure of the internal facial foramen, to its ventral exit into the epitympanic cavity via the ventral facial foramen. All other features of the pars cochlearis and epitympanic recess have been obliterated. Posterior to the broad and shallow hiatus epitympanicus is a remnant of the base of the posterior process (which is directed posterolaterally and somewhat ventrally).</p><p>Discussion. Miller (1924: 8–9) listed the following features that distinguish the periotics of Balaenidae from those of Balaenopteridae (and other baleen-bearing Mysticeti): (1) axis of anterior process of periotic parallel with axis of internal acoustic meatus; (2) [longitudinal] axes of anterior and posterior processes converge at an acute angle; and (3) pars cochlearis small relative to rest of periotic. In addition to the preceding features, the possession of massive lateral exostosis of the anterior process and anterolateral superior process, such that the anterior process appears swollen (as noted by Fordyce, 1982: 48), seems to be a feature shared by all extant and late Neogene balaenid periotics. It is largely on the basis of the latter character and the phenetic similarity of P218269 to a periotic (P16195) from the Lower Pliocene Black Rock Sandstone of Beaumaris identified as belonging to cf. “ Balaena ” (Gill, 1957) that P218269 is referred to Balaenidae, genus and species indeterminate.</p><p>The fossil record of Balaenidae begins in the Late Oligocene (c. 28 Ma: Fordyce, 2002b), although the record only becomes reasonably well known from the Mio-Pliocene boundary onwards (McLeod et al., 1993; Bisconti, 2003). Morenocetus parvus Cabrera, 1926 is the geologically oldest named balaenid, from the early Early Miocene (Aquitanian) of Patagonia. From the end Aquitanian to early Tortonian of the Miocene the evolutionary history of Balaenidae is virtually unknown. The extant balaenids include Balaena mysticetus Linnaeus, 1758, Eubalaena australis Desmoulins, 1822, E. glacialis Müller, 1776, and E. japonica Lacépède, 1818 (e.g., Cummings, 1985; Reeves and Leatherwood, 1985; Bannister, 2002). Note that Rice (1998) included all extant balaenids in the genus Balaena and recognised only two species, B. mysticetus and B. glacialis . The taxonomic scheme of Bannister (2002) is used herein. Balaena is known from the Early Pliocene of the North Atlantic (McLeod et al., 1993; Westgate and Whitmore, 2002). There are very few confirmed pre-Quaternary fossil records of Eubalaena . Bisconti (2003, 2005) referred the Pliocene Balaena belgica Abel, 1941 to Eubalaena belgica . McLeod and others (1993: 63) suggested that a balaenid periotic from the Early Pliocene of South Australia (originally recorded by Howchin: 1919) could represent Eubalaena (as opposed to its original referral to Balaena). Dixon (1990) described an incomplete Recent Eubalaena australis skeleton from Altona Bay, near Melbourne, Victoria. The latter specimen (C27879) includes tympanics and periotics. The extinct genera Balaenula and Balaenotus have been recorded from the Late Miocene through Pliocene of the N Pacific (Barnes, 1977; McLeod et al., 1993) and N Atlantic (McLeod et al., 1993; Bisconti, 2003 and references therein). Recently, Bisconti (2005) described a new genus and species of relatively small balaenid, Balaenella brachyrhynus, from the Early Pliocene of Belgium.</p><p>The incompleteness of P218269 and lack of information on the extent of intraspecific and ontogenetic variation in balaenid periotics, hampers comparisons with described extant and fossil balaenid taxa. Furthermore, there are as yet no published criteria for discriminating between the periotics of Balaena and Eubalaena . Despite these problems, it may be noted that P218269 is similar in overall size to several isolated balaenid periotics from the uppermost Miocene to Lower Pliocene Black Rock Sandstone and Grange Burn Formation of Victoria (e.g. P16195, P48865, P160438, and P197824). The discovery of a more complete periotic (including the pars cochlearis) is necessary before any further comparisons between the Portland Pliocene balaenid and the other Victorian specimens listed above can be made.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03ACB35ADC76FF9CFF7AF913FEDEF904	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Plazi	Fitzgerald, Erich M. G.	Fitzgerald, Erich M. G. (2005): Pliocene marine mammals from the Whalers Bluff Formation of Portland, Victoria, Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 62 (1): 67-89, DOI: 10.24199/j.mmv.2005.62.2, URL: https://museumsvictoria.com.au/collections-research/journals/memoirs-of-museum-victoria/volume-62-issue-1-2005/pages-67-89/
03ACB35ADC77FF9EFF72F940FEC5FDCE.text	03ACB35ADC77FF9EFF72F940FEC5FDCE.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Balaenopteridae Gray 1864	<div><p>Family Balaenopteridae Gray, 1864</p><p>Genus and species indeterminate</p><p>Referred specimen. NMV P218268, incomplete right periotic; lacking medial three-quarters of pars cochlearis and posterior process (Fig. 3B).</p><p>Description. P218268 is polished, rolled and may be secondarily phosphatised. The anterior process is elongated and somewhat attenuated anteriorly. The dorsal surface of the anterior process is smooth, with only slight rugosity, as seen in the periotics of extant Balaenopteridae . An oblique groove on the dorsolateral surface of the anterior process near its preserved apex is interpreted as a trace of a vascular sulcus. The latter feature has previously been considered a sulcus for the capsuloparietal emissary vein (Geisler and Luo, 1998; Geisler and Sanders, 2003) or as a sulcus marking the path of an artery, specifically part of the middle meningeal artery (Fordyce, 1994). Fordyce (1994) and Watson and Fordyce (1994) described this feature as the anteroexternal sulcus whereas Geisler and Sanders (2003) treated the anteroexternal sulcus and sulcus for the capsuloparietal emissary vein as separate features. Further work is required to better establish the venous/arterial correlate of this osteological feature which in this study is referred to as the sulcus for the capsuloparietal emissary vein. In extant balaenopterids, this sulcus usually courses posteriorly to a point level with the position of the mallear fossa. However, in P218268 any more posterior continuation of the sulcus for the capsuloparietal emissary vein, if formerly present, no longer occurs due to abrasion.</p><p>The ventral presentation of the periotic exhibits several features. As occurs in extant Balaenoptera and Megaptera, the lateralmost eminence of the ventrolateral ridge of the superior process (sensu Geisler and Luo, 1996) is situated at the same level as the anterior margin of the pars cochlearis. The mallear fossa is poorly differentiated from the rest of the epitympanic recess.</p><p>The preserved posterolateral margin of the periotic is formed by the hiatus epitympanicus. The course of the facial nerve on the ventral surface of the periotic is marked by the facial sulcus which is bounded anteriorly by the aperture of the ventral facial foramen. In ventral view, a distinct bridge of bone at the anterolateral corner of the preserved pars cochlearis represents the ventral roof of the ventral facial foramen. The endocranial aspect of the pars cochlearis preserves the aperture of the internal facial foramen. Anterior to this aperture is a deep excavation in the medial surface of the periotic at the base of the anterior process. This region (composed of cancellous bone in extant balaenopterids) marks the site of ankylosis between the anterior process and the body of the periotic. As in other Balaenopteridae, the pars cochlearis appears to have been elongated towards the cranial cavity.</p><p>Discussion. That P218268 is a balaenopterid periotic is evident by the possession of: (1) elongated, triangular and anteriorly attenuated anterior process; (2) a triangular lateral eminence of the ventrolateral ridge; and (3) a relatively large pars cochlearis elongated towards the cranial cavity. Because P218268 is represented only by an incomplete periotic, it is not possible for it to be identified below family level. The size of P218268 is comparable to that of periotics of subadult Balaenoptera edeni Anderson, 1879 or B. brydei Olsen, 1913 (P171503) and juvenile Megaptera novaeangliae Borowski, 1781 (C28892). However, the periotics of extant Megaptera novaeangliae and an undescribed species of Megaptera from the Early Pliocene of Victoria (P179005) possess the following features which differentiate them from P218268: (1) the anterior process is relatively shorter; (2) anterior process is more dorsoventrally compressed; (3) in endocranial view, there is an anteroposteriorly thickened region of cancellous bone in the pars cochlearis anterior to the internal facial foramen; and (4) no deep excavation in the endocranial surface of the periotic anterior to the pars cochlearis. Many of these features may be related to ontogenetic variation. At least, the lack of these four features in P218268 may indicate that this periotic is not referrable to Megaptera and may belong to an indeterminate species in the genus Balaenoptera .</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03ACB35ADC77FF9EFF72F940FEC5FDCE	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Plazi	Fitzgerald, Erich M. G.	Fitzgerald, Erich M. G. (2005): Pliocene marine mammals from the Whalers Bluff Formation of Portland, Victoria, Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 62 (1): 67-89, DOI: 10.24199/j.mmv.2005.62.2, URL: https://museumsvictoria.com.au/collections-research/journals/memoirs-of-museum-victoria/volume-62-issue-1-2005/pages-67-89/
03ACB35ADC75FF9EFF72FAE3FA84F81F.text	03ACB35ADC75FF9EFF72FAE3FA84F81F.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Kogiidae Gill 1871	<div><p>Family Kogiidae Gill, 1871</p><p>Genus and species indeterminate</p><p>Referred specimen. NMV P218407, incomplete left tympanic bulla (Fig. 4 A-B).</p><p>Description. The most striking aspect of the morphology of P218407 is its small size. The tympanic is polished with rolled edges being rounded off. The preserved portion includes only the medial half of the bulla with very little of the outer lip present. The base of the posterior process of the tympanic has been worn off. In dorsal and ventral view, there is a distinct furrow in the medial edge of the involucrum between the inner posterior prominence and the inner anterior prominence. In ventral view, the furrow between the prominences of the involucrum forms an obtuse angle. There is no preserved ventral keel and the median furrow is very shallow such that it is poorly differentiated from the surrounding ventral surface of the tympanic. The interprominential notch is relatively broad. The anterior edge of the involucrum and outer lip is squared-off. In dorsal view, the involucrum has a consistent width along its length, but is expanded at the level of the inner posterior prominence.</p><p>Discussion. P218407 is referred to the Kogiidae on the basis of the following features shared with extant and fossil kogiids: (1) small overall size [as Kasuya (1973: 25) noted among extant Odontoceti only Pontoporia blainvillei Gervais and d’Orbigny, 1844 has a smaller tympanic, and P218407 does not resemble the tympanic of that taxon]; (2) distinct embayment in the medial edge of the involucrum between the inner anterior and posterior prominences; and (3) squared-off anterior edge of the involucrum and outer lip. It should be noted that the second feature is also seen in the tympanic bullae of Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758, Orycterocetus crocodilinus Cope, 1868 (USNM 22953) (Kellogg, 1965) (Fig. 5C–D), and an Early Pliocene physeterid (USNM 183007) (Fig. 5A, B). Despite this similarity between P218407 and the tympanics of Physeteridae, the relatively large size of physeterid tympanics precludes P218407 from being considered as a physeterid. Furthermore, the inner posterior prominence in physeterid tympanics is generally more pointed in outline than the rounded outer posterior prominences in kogiid tympanics.</p><p>Among fossil Kogiidae, the tympanics of Praekogia cedrosensis (Barnes, 1973b) have not been described. A skull of Scaphokogia cochlearis Muizon, 1988 (USNM 452993) includes an associated incomplete left tympanic (Fig. 4E, F). The tympanic of S. cochlearis is similar to the tympanics of extant Kogia in its relatively small size and possession of a distinct embayment in the medial side of the involucrum between the inner anterior and posterior prominences. The most notable difference between the tympanic of S. cochlearis and the Portland kogiid tympanic lies in the more marked inflation of the inner posterior prominence of P218407. S. cochlearis possesses a less expanded inner posterior prominence, such that the embayment in the medial face of the involucrum is not as deep as in P218407. In this respect, Scaphokogia cochlearis is similar to two undescribed Early Pliocene kogiids from the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina (USNM 183008, Fig. 4G–H; USNM 251118, Fig. 4C, D) and the extant Kogia breviceps Blainville, 1838 (Fig. 4I, J).</p><p>The features which Kasuya (1973) used to differentiate between Recent Kogia breviceps and K. sima Owen, 1866 are not preserved in P218407. However, comparison between figures of the tympanic of K. sima (Kasuya, 1973: plate VIII), and actual specimens of K. breviceps (C24972, C24976), indicate that P218407 differs from both extant Kogia species in: (1) embayment in medial edge of involucrum between the inner prominences is markedly deeper; and (2) the involucrum is less dorsoventrally and mediolaterally inflated. Despite these differences, P218407 is almost identical in size to the tympanics of Kogia breviceps . Given that the currently available evidence is meagre, P218407 is not identified below family level. Table 2 compares some dimensions of the tympanics of kogiids and physeterids discussed above.</p><p>P218407 is the first fossil record of Kogiidae from Australia. Fossil kogiids have previously been reported in the SW Pacific region, from the?Late Miocene of the Chatham Rise, east of New Zealand (Fordyce, 1984a) but that record has a poorly constrained age (Fordyce, 1989, 1991b).</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03ACB35ADC75FF9EFF72FAE3FA84F81F	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Plazi	Fitzgerald, Erich M. G.	Fitzgerald, Erich M. G. (2005): Pliocene marine mammals from the Whalers Bluff Formation of Portland, Victoria, Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 62 (1): 67-89, DOI: 10.24199/j.mmv.2005.62.2, URL: https://museumsvictoria.com.au/collections-research/journals/memoirs-of-museum-victoria/volume-62-issue-1-2005/pages-67-89/
03ACB35ADC7AFF91FF7AFC82FBA0FA95.text	03ACB35ADC7AFF91FF7AFC82FBA0FA95.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Delphinoidea Gray 1821	<div><p>Superfamily Delphinoidea Gray, 1821</p><p>Incertae sedis</p><p>Referred specimens. NMV P218283, P218284 and P218286, all isolated teeth (not figured).</p><p>Description. P21283, P218284 and P218286 all represent small odontocete teeth possessing conical enamel-covered crowns that bear fine wrinkling ornamentation, and curve lingually towards the crown apex. As in kentriodontids, there is a lingual bulge at the base of the crown but this feature is not as prominent in the teeth from Portland. None possesses an open pulp cavity suggesting that all were derived from adult individuals.</p><p>P218283 is an incomplete tooth, its preserved maximum length and maximum width of the crown being 16 mm and 6 mm respectively. Due to the incomplete nature of this tooth it does not warrant further description.</p><p>P218284 is the most highly polished and the most complete. It differs from the others in having a mediolaterally compressed root with a more prominent mesial-distal bulge at its midpoint. The preserved apex of the root curves posteriorly.</p><p>The most notable feature of P218286 distinguishing it from the other teeth is its bulbous root, which contrasts with the transversely flattened morphology of P218284.</p><p>Discussion. Only one delphinoid odontocete has previously been described from the Tertiary of Australia, the latest Miocene-earliest Pliocene “ Steno ” cudmorei Chapman (1917) from the Black Rock Sandstone of Beaumaris, Victoria (Fitzgerald, 2004b). Fordyce (1982) questioned the taxonomic identity of “ S.” cudmorei (the holotype, P13033, being an isolated tooth) and Fitzgerald (2004b) referred “ S.” cudmorei to Delphinidae, genus and species indeterminate. Chapman (1917) assigned P13033 to Steno on the basis of the resemblance of its crown ornamentation to that seen in the teeth of the extant Steno bredanensis Cuvier in Lesson, 1828 (e.g., Miyazaki and Perrin, 1994). Given that Steno is probably in a basal position in the phylogeny of Delphinidae (Miyazaki and Perrin, 1994; LeDuc et al., 1999) and that some of the presumed ancestors of Delphinidae, the Kentriodontidae (Barnes, 1978, 2002; LeDuc, 2002), possessed Steno-like crown ornamentation (e.g., Kellogg, 1966), the anastomosing striae on the crown of P13033 (and P218283, P218284, P218286) are of dubious use in assessing the phylogenetic affinities of isolated teeth. Furthermore, non-delphinid small odontocetes such as Lipotes vexillifer Miller, 1918 possess anastomosing wrinkling on tooth crown enamel (Miller, 1918; Brownell and Herald, 1972; Barnes, 1985) which casts doubt on any perceived taxonomic or phylogenetic signal present in these teeth.</p><p>The isolated teeth from Portland are assigned to Delphinoidea incertae sedis. None of the Portland Pliocene teeth share demonstrably close affinities with the holotype tooth of “ Steno ” cudmorei.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03ACB35ADC7AFF91FF7AFC82FBA0FA95	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Plazi	Fitzgerald, Erich M. G.	Fitzgerald, Erich M. G. (2005): Pliocene marine mammals from the Whalers Bluff Formation of Portland, Victoria, Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 62 (1): 67-89, DOI: 10.24199/j.mmv.2005.62.2, URL: https://museumsvictoria.com.au/collections-research/journals/memoirs-of-museum-victoria/volume-62-issue-1-2005/pages-67-89/
03ACB35ADC7CFF8BFCD6FDB9FC95FD79.text	03ACB35ADC7CFF8BFCD6FDB9FC95FD79.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Phocidae Gray 1821	<div><p>Family? Phocidae Gray, 1821</p><p>Genus and species indeterminate</p><p>Referred specimens. NMV P218465, incomplete left horizontal ramus of mandible (Fig. 10). NMV P218273, isolated upper incisor or canine tooth (not figured).</p><p>Description. P218465 is an incomplete left horizontal ramus with a preserved length of 69 mm, depth at level of dorsal concavity of 21 mm, and mediolateral thickness at level of posterior alveolus for m1 of 10 mm. The surface detail of P218465 is well preserved relative to most of the other marine vertebrate fossils recovered from the Whalers Bluff Formation. P218465 lacks all of the horizontal ramus anterior to the anterior alveolus for p4 and all of the ascending and horizontal rami posterior to the anteriormost corner of the fossa for m. masseter pars profundus. No teeth are preserved in situ in the mandible. In overall proportions, the ramus is lightly built. In posterior and dorsal view, slight medial inflection of the ramus is visible. In lateral aspect, there is a small mental foramen located ventral to the position of the interalveolar septum between the anterior and posterior alveoli of p4 (Fig. 10B). This position is almost identical to that of the posteriormost mental foramen on a mandible referred to Piscophoca sp. by Walsh and Naish (2002). Such small mental foramina are also present on the mandibles of Zalophus californianus Lesson, 1828 (Howell, 1929; pers. obs.). Immediately posterior to the posterior alveolus of m1 is a prominent dorsal concavity 25 mm long (measured from the m1 alveolus to the anterior margin of the fossa for m. masseter pars profundus). This dorsal concavity resembles that of Piscophoca . The preserved anterior region of the fossa for m. masseter pars profundus differs from that of Piscophoca in being dorsoventrally broader with a more rounded outline.</p><p>P218273 represents an isolated incisor or canine tooth, 28 mm long; its mesiodistal width at a level just below the base of the crown is 8 mm while its buccolingual width at the same level is 6 mm. The crown has smooth enamel and is recurved towards the apex. The root has a consistent thickness and is buccolingually compressed.</p><p>Discussion. The pinniped fossils recovered from the Whalers Bluff Formation do not include elements preserving unequivocal synapomorphies of suprageneric pinniped taxa. Berta (1991) and Berta and Wyss (1994) listed the possession of a bony flange below the angular process of the mandible as an unequivocal synapomorphy of Superfamily Phocoidea (sensu Wyss and Flynn, 1993) but the posterior region of the mandible is not preserved in P218465. However, P218465 is tentatively referred to the Phocidae on the basis of its morphology and proportions being most similar to the mandibles of phocid seals, as opposed to otariids and odobenids. It remains possible that P218465 represents an otariid mandible. If this were the case, then a major rethinking of otariid evolutionary biogeography would be necessary, as current estimates place the otariid dispersal into the Southern Hemisphere at around the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary (Deméré et al., 2003; contra Repenning and Tedford, 1977, who indicated a latest Miocene dispersal event at the earliest), and the age of P218465 (and P218273) probably predates that horizon.</p><p>B A B A</p><p>C</p><p>C</p><p>D</p><p>D</p><p>Given that P218465 is not similar in morphology to Otariidae but shares certain features with some phocids (see description and discussion below), there is no firm evidence to suggest that the Portland mandible represents an otariid. The fact that phocid seal fossils have previously been reported from Pliocene-aged sediments in Victoria (Fordyce and Flannery, 1983) whereas otariids have not lends further support to the assignment of P218465 to the Phocidae . However, P218465 and P218273 are not referred unquestionably to Phocidae because the late Neogene fossil record of marine mammals in the SW Pacific remains too poorly documented to provide any absolute idea of the composition of the marine mammal fauna during the Pliocene.</p><p>Among extant and fossil phocid mandibles, P218465 is most similar to those of the Pliocene taxa Acrophoca longirostris Muizon, 1981, Homiphoca capensis Hendey and Repenning, 1972, and Piscophoca pacifica Muizon, 1981 . P218465 may be clearly distinguished from Acrophoca, as it lacks the wide diastema between cheek teeth characteristic of Acrophoca (Muizon, 1981) . The Portland mandible can be further distinguished from Homiphoca (Hendey and Repenning, 1972; Muizon and Hendey, 1980) by the possession of a well-developed dorsal concavity posterior to m1. P218465 is generally very similar to the mandible of Piscophoca (Muizon, 1981) in its overall proportions, relative length of the dorsal concavity posterior to m1, subequal diameters of the alveoli and relatively closely spaced alveoli along the tooth row. However, it is not possible at this stage to determine whether the Portland mandible belongs to a species of Piscophoca or not.</p><p>The Australian fossil record of pinnipeds is currently poor. Fordyce (1991b) summarised the state of knowledge at the beginning of the 1990s, and virtually nothing has been added since that time. The oldest fossil pinnipeds from the SW Pacific are latest Miocene (c. 6 Ma) at the earliest and are from Australia (Fitzgerald, 2004b). Fordyce and Flannery (1983) provided a preliminary assessment of these fragmentary fossils suggesting that they represented monachine phocids. The fossils represent one?incisor tooth (P16198), two right temporals (P160399 and P160441), two fused sacral vertebrae (P41759) and an articulated series of eight thoracic vertebrae with five ribs (P160433). None of these specimens has yet been described and only one of the temporals (P160399) has been figured (Fordyce and Flannery, 1983: 99). Recently, two other pre-Pleistocene?phocid fossils have been discovered: P42523, isolated right metatarsal V; and P215759, isolated left metatarsal V. Both P42523 and P215759 were derived from beds immediately overlying a phosphatic nodule horizon at the base of the Black Rock Sandstone (Beaumaris, Victoria), and are thus early Early Pliocene in age. The exact relationships of the phocids represented by temporals to extant Monachinae and their fossil sister-taxa ( Acrophoca, Homiphoca and Piscophoca) have yet to be determined. The report herein of two probable phocid pinniped fossils from Portland brings the number of known Australian pre-Pleistocene pinniped specimens to nine.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03ACB35ADC7CFF8BFCD6FDB9FC95FD79	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Plazi	Fitzgerald, Erich M. G.	Fitzgerald, Erich M. G. (2005): Pliocene marine mammals from the Whalers Bluff Formation of Portland, Victoria, Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 62 (1): 67-89, DOI: 10.24199/j.mmv.2005.62.2, URL: https://museumsvictoria.com.au/collections-research/journals/memoirs-of-museum-victoria/volume-62-issue-1-2005/pages-67-89/
