Leptonychotes

Published: July 18, 2010, 7:09 pm

Updated: May 13, 2011, 10:23 am

Topics:

Marine Ecology (main) Biodiversity (main)

Conservation Status

Scientific Classification Kingdom: Anamalia (Animals) Phylum:--- Chordata Class:------ Mammalia (Mammals) Order:-------- Carnivora (Carnivores) Family:-------- Phocidae (True Seals) Genus:--------- Leptonychotes Species:--------1 species

Leptonychotes is a genus consisting of a single species (a “monotypic” genus) within the true seal family of nineteen species: the Weddell seal (also known as Weddell's seals).

Together with the families of Eared seals and Walruses, True seals form the group of marine mammals known as pinnipeds.

The Weddell seal is named after its discoverer James Weddell, the captain of a sealing ship who brought a specimen back from the South Orkney Islands during early exploration of the Antarctic in 1823. It is the most southerly breeding mammal.

For further details, see Weddell seal.

Further Reading

1. Leptonychotes weddellii (Lesson, 1826) Encyclopedia of Life (accessed July 18, 2010)
2. Leptonychotes weddellii, Bayi, O., 2000, Animal Diversity Web (accessed July 18, 2010)
3. Weddell seal, Seal Conservation Society (accessed July 18, 2010)
4. Leptonychotes weddellii, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (accessed July 18, 2010)
5. The Pinnipeds: Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses, Marianne Riedman, University of California Press, 1991 ISBN: 0520064984
6. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, Bernd Wursig, Academic Press, 2002 ISBN: 0125513402
7. Marine Mammal Research: Conservation beyond Crisis, edited by John E. Reynolds III, William F. Perrin, Randall R. Reeves, Suzanne Montgomery and Timothy J. Ragen, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005 ISBN: 0801882559
8. Walker's Mammals of the World, Ronald M. Nowak, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN: 0801857899
9. Weddell seal, MarineBio.org (accessed July 18, 2010)

Citation

Life, E. (2011). Leptonychotes. Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Leptonychotes