Monachus

Monk seals
Monk seals (Monachus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Phocidae
Genus:	Monachus Fleming, 1822
Species
Monachus monachus Monachus schauinslandi †Monachus tropicalis

Monachus is a genus containing the monk seals, a group of three pinniped species. They are the only earless seals that are found in tropical climates. They are now extremely rare, and the genus is in imminent danger of going entirely extinct, with only very limited genetic variation in the two surviving species. Fossils of the Mediterranean and Caribbean species are known from the Pleistocene.

These include:

• the Hawaiian monk seal, Monachus schauinslandi (endangered)
• the Mediterranean monk seal, Monachus monachus (endangered)
• the Caribbean monk seal, Monachus tropicalis (extinct)

In 2014, following comparison of the mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA sequence of all three species, a new genus, Neomonachus, was erected for the Caribbean and Hawaiian species. The time of divergence between these two, 3.7 million years (Ma) ago, corresponds to the closing of the Central American Seaway by the formation of the Isthmus of Panama. The divergence between Mediterranean seals and the New World clade was dated to 6.3 Ma ago.

External links

• The Monachus Guardian
• Monk Seal Foundation
• NOAA Monk Seal Info