NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Juan Fernández Fur Seal
Arctocephalus philippii (Peters, 1866)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Juan Fernández Fur Seal (Arctocephalus philippii) in Chile
Flavien Saboureau · CC BY 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Juan Fernández fur seal (Arctocephalus philippii) is the second smallest of the fur seals, after the Galápagos fur seal. They are found only on the Pacific Coast of South America, more specifically on the Juan Fernández Islands and the Desventuradas Islands. Much is still unknown about this species. Scientists do not yet know the average lifespan of this species, or the diet and behavior of males outside the breeding season.
Wikipedia contributors, Juan Fernández fur seal; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:34:01.375382+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Arctocephalus philippii (Peters, 1866)
- Name authority
- (Peters, 1866)
- Common name
- Juan Fernández Fur Seal
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Otariidae
- Genus
- Arctocephalus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderCarnivora Bowdich, 1821
- suborderCaniformia Kretzoi, 1938
- familyOtariidae Gray, 1825
- genusArctocephalus É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire & F. Cuvier, 1826
- speciesArctocephalus philippii (Peters, 1866)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Arctocephalus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Galapagos Fur SealArctocephalus galapagoensis Heller, 1904 | OtariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Antipodean fur sealArctocephalus forsteri (Lesson, 1828) | OtariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| South American Fur SealArctocephalus australis (Zimmermann, 1783) | OtariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Antarctic Fur SealArctocephalus gazella (Peters, 1875) | OtariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Brown Fur SealArctocephalus pusillus (Schreber, 1775) | OtariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Amsterdam fur sealArctocephalus tropicalis (J. E. Gray, 1872) | OtariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Otaria philippii Peters, 1866 Peters, 1866 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
South America
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180635 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:5W433. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.