The type species of
Noriphoca,
N. gaudini, was originally named
Phoca gaudini on the basis of a skull from late Oligocene to earliest Miocene deposits in Chiento, Italy. Later authors referred it to either
Monotherium,
Pristiphoca, or the physeteroid genus
Paleophoca. However, it was later shown that
P. gaudini cannot be referred to
Monotherium as the latter was probably
phocine and not monachine, and erected
Noriphoca for the stem-monachine species
P. gaudini. ==References==