Neomonachus is a genus of earless seals, within the family Phocidae. It comprises two species: the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, and the extinct Caribbean monk seal. Prior to 2014, all three species of monk seals were placed in the genus Monachus. Scheel et al. (2014) found that the Caribbean and Hawaiian monk seals were sister species and deeply divergent from the Mediterranean monk seal, and therefore placed them in the newly erected genus Neomonachus.
Species Image Scientific name Common name Distribution N. schauinslandi Hawaiian monk seal Hawaiian Islands and United States Minor Outlying Islands, United States †N. tropicalis Caribbean monk seal Once ranged throughout the Caribbean Sea (in Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico) and the Southeastern United States; extinct
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