Family Phocidae Gray 1821 (seal)
Invalid subtaxa: Manatus maeoticus Eichwald 1850 [invalid subgroup], Phoca ambigua Staring 1860 [invalid subgroup], Phoca bessarabica Simonescu 1925 [invalid subgroup], Phoca novorossica Alekseev 1924 [invalid subgroup]
Full reference: J. E. Gray. 1821. On the natural arrangement of vertebrose animals. The London Medical Repository Monthly Journal and Review 15:296-310
Parent taxon: Phocoidea according to I. A. Koretsky et al. 2012
Sister taxa: Allodesmus, Desmatophoca
Subtaxa: Acrophoca, Cystophorinae, Devinophocinae, Halichoerina, Homiphoca, Monachina, Monachinae, Ogmorhininae, Palmidophoca, Phocinae, Piscophoca, Stenorhynchina
Ecology: amphibious piscivore-carnivore