Morfometría de dos ejemplares de Foca de Ross, Ommatophoca rossii, de la Colección Nacional de Mastozoología del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”

Abstract

Morphometrics of two specimens of Ross Seal, Ommatophoca rossi, housed at the Mammals collection of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”. The description of material housed in collections contribute to the knowledge and conservation of species, specially those that are scarcely represented due to the relatively difficult access to their distribution range. The Ross seal is an example of this, even though this species is not threatened in its conservation status, the apparent changes in the ice pack extension may affect the state of the populations. The Mammals National Collection of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” (MACN -Ma, Buenos Aires, Argentina) houses two specimens belonging to this species: an adult female, represented by the skull, post-cranial skeleton and extended skin, and the pup, represented by the skull and extended skin. In this paper we report information on the skull and post-cranial measurements of the two O. rossii specimens. In addition, a brief description of its skull morphology is given.