King: The Ohope Skull - a new specie . . .

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

The Ohope Skull - a new species of Pleistocene sealion from New Zealand

JUDITH E. KING

School of Zoology University of New South Wales P.O. Box 1, Kensington NSW 2033, Australia

Abstract An otariid skull from the Middle Pleistocene of Ohope Beach, North Island, is described as a new species, Neophoca palatina. The wide interorbital region is the main character that suggests Neophoca, but N. palatina differs from the extant N. cinerea in the smaller alveoli, wider palate and basioccipital, and a difference in the shape of the bulla.

Keywords Otariidae; Pleistocene; New Zealand; Ohope; fossils; Neophoca palatina; new taxa; morphology

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