Pinnipedimorpha is a
clade of
arctoidcarnivorans that is defined to include the last common ancestor of Phoca and Enaliarctos, and all descendants of that ancestor.[1] Scientists still debate on which lineage of arctoid carnivorans are the closest relatives to the pinnipedimorphs, being more closely related to
musteloids.[2][3][4][5][6]
Below is an overall phylogeny of the taxa covered in the article followed after a composite tree in Berta et al. (2018)[1] and a total-evidence (combined molecular-morphological) dataset in Paterson et al. (2020):[7]
^Sato, J. J.; Wolsan, M.; Suzuki, H.; Hosoda, T.; Yamaguchi, Y.; Hiyama, K.; Kobayashi, M.; Minami, S. (2006). "Evidence from nuclear DNA sequences sheds light on the phylogenetic relationships of Pinnipedia: Single origin with affinity to Musteloidea". Zoological Science. 23 (2): 125–46.
doi:
10.2108/zsj.23.125.
hdl:2115/13508.
PMID16603806.
S2CID25795496.