Microcetus Temporal range:
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Infraorder: | Cetacea |
Family: | †Waipatiidae (?) |
Genus: | †Microcetus Kellogg, 1923 |
Species | |
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Microcetus is a genus of extinct odontocete from the late Oligocene (Chattian) of Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
Taxonomy
The type species of Microcetus, M. ambiguus, was originally described as a new species of Phoca on the basis of teeth from late Oligocene deposits in northwestern Germany.[1] The odontocete nature of the teeth was eventually recognized, and it was eventually assigned to Squalodon,[2][3] before being made the type species of a new genus, Microcetus.[4]
Misassigned species
- Microcetus hectori Benham, 1935 = Waipatia hectori
- Microcetus sharkovi Dubrovo and Sharkov, 1971[5] = likely a distinct genus, but affinities uncertain[6][7]
References
- ^ H. Meyer. 1840. Phoca ambiguua, Munster. Beitrage zur Petrefacten-Kunde 3:1-11
- ^ E. L. Trouessart. 1898. Catalogus mammalium tam viventium quam fossilum 5:665-1264
- ^ G. Dal Piaz. 1916. Squalodon. Memoirie dell'Instituto geologico della R. Università di Padova 4:1-94
- ^ R. Kellogg. 1923. Description of two squalodonts recently discovered in the Calvert Cliffs, Maryland; and notes on the shark-toothed cetaceans. Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum 62(16):1-69
- ^ I. A. Dubrovo and A. A. Sharkov. 1971. Kit iz verkhnego oligotsena Mangyshlaka (Whale from the upper Oligocene of Mangyshlak). Doklady Akademii Nauk SSR, Moscow 198(6):140-143
- ^ R. E. Fordyce. 1994. Waipatia maerewhenua, New Genus and New Species, Waipatiidae, New Family, an archaic late Oligocene dolphin (Cetacea: Odontoceti: Platanistoidea) from New Zealand. Contributions in Marine Mammal Paleontology Honoring Frank C. Whitmore Jr., Proceedings of the San Diego Society of Natural History 29:147-176
- ^ Y. Tanaka and R. E. Fordyce. 2015. Historically significant late Oligocene dolphin Microcetus hectori Benham 1935: a new species of Waipatia (Platanistoidea). Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand