Pusa Scopoli 1771 Pusa Scopoli 1771, Introductio ad historiam naturalem: 490. Type Species: Phoca foetica Fabricius 1776 Synonyms: Caspiopusa Dybowski 1929. Species and subspecies: 3 species with 5 subspecies: Species Pusa caspica Gmelin 1788 Species Pusa hispida Schreber 1775 Subspecies Pusa hispida subsp. hispida Schreber 1775 Subspecies Pusa hispida subsp. botnica Gmelin 1788 Subspecies Pusa hispida subsp. ladogensis Nordquiest 1899 Subspecies Pusa hispida subsp. ochotensis Pallas 1811 Subspecies Pusa hispida subsp. saimensis Nordquist 1899 Species Pusa sibirica Gmelin 1788 Discussion: Burns and Fay (1970), Rice (1977), McDermid and Bonner (1975), Gromov and Baranova (1981), King (1983), and Wyss (1988) considered Phoca, Pusa, Histriophoca, and Pagophilus a monophyletic group. Cladistic analysis based on morphology and mtDNA reveal two clades, Pagophilus + Histriophoca and Phoca + Pusa + Halichoerus (Carr and Perry, 1998; Mouchaty et al., 1995; Muizon, 1982 b; Perry et al., 1995; Rice, 1998). Burns and Fay (1970) and McDermid and Bonner (1975) argued that these differences should be recognized only at the subgeneric level.

Published as part of Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Carnivora, pp. 532-628 in Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore :The Johns Hopkins University Press on page 600, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7316519