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Published 15 July 2005 by the American Society of Mammalogists
Lobodon Gray, 1844
Phoca: Hombron and Jacquinot, in Jacquinot, 1842:plates 10, 10A. Type species Phoca carcinophaga; not Phoca Linnaeus, 1758.
Stenorhynchus Owen, 1843:331. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Stenorhinchus Cuvier, 1826 (the latter a preoccupied senior synonym of Hydrurga Gistel, 1848).
Labodon Gray, 1844:2. Type species Lobodon carcinophaga, by monotypy.
Leptorhynchus Gray, 1844:5. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Stenorhinchus Cuvier, 1826.
Ogmorhinus: Turner, 1888:64. Not Ogmorhinus Peters, 1875:393.
CONTEXT AND CONTENT. Order Carnivora, suborder Pinnipedia, family Phocklae, subfamily Monachinae, tribe Lobodontini, genus Lobodon. The genus is monotypic.
Lobodon carcinophaga (Hombron and Jacquinot, in Jacquinot, 1842)
Crabeater seal
Phoca carcinophaga Hombron and Jacquinot, in Jacquinot, 1842: plates 10, 10A. Type locality unknown; restricted to "sur les glaces du Pole Sud, entre les îles Sandwich et les îles Powels, à 150 lieues de distance de chacune de ces îles" [about the ice of the south pole, between the (south) Sandwich and Powel (= south Orkney) Islands, 150 leagues (724 km) distance from each of these islands] by Hombron and Jaequinot (1853:30).
Stenorhynchus serridens Owen, 1843:332. Type locality "from a high latitude in the Australian seas."
Lobodon carcinophaga: Gray, 1844:2. First use of current name combination.
Leptorhynchus serridens: Gray, 1844:5. Name combination.
Stenorhynchus carcinophngus: Flower, 1884:213. Name combination.
Ogmorhinus carcinophagus: Turner, 1888:64. Name combination.
Lobodon carcinophagus: Berg, 1898:15. Unjustified emendation of Lobodon carcinophaga Gray, 1844.
CONTEXT AND CONTENT. Context as for genus. L. carcinophaga is monotypic.
DIAGNOSIS. Lobodon carcinophaga is distinguished from other phocids by unique finely cusped postcanine teeth in which a principal, posteriorly curved cusp is bordered anteriorly and posteriorly by 1 and 2 or 3 accessory cusps, respectively (Scheffer 1958).
GENERAL CHARACTERS. Lobodon carcinophaga (Fig. 1) is a krill-feeding specialist of the Antarctic pack ice (i.e., ice not fixed to land). Pelage is countershaded, with back darker than belly. Background color is silvery gray in newly molted individuals (January-February), changing to a golden, creamy white or brown color. Reticulated chocolate-brown patterns or dark flecks of variable intensity may mark shoulders, sides, and flanks, and grade into a predominantly dark head, back, and foreflippers and hind flippers. Individuals become progressively paler with age even when freshly molted. Pelage has no clear sexual dimorphism (Laws 1993a), but males...