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.