Basilotritus

Basilotritus Temporal range: Middle Eocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Cetacea
Suborder:	Archaeoceti
Family:	Basilosauridae
Genus:	Basilotritus Gol'din and Zvonok 2013
Species
B. uheni (type) Gol'din and Zvonok 2013 B. wardi Uhen 1999

Basilotritus is a genus of basilosaurid early whale known from the early late Middle Eocene (late Lutetian to Bartonian, 42 to 37.2 million years ago) of Ukraine, Germany, Egypt and the United States.

Basilotritus uheni

Basilotritus uheni has been found in the late Middle Eocene (Bartonian) Kiev Formation at Beloskelevatoye, Ukraine, making it the oldest fossil cetacean from Eastern Europe. Its holotype, NMNH-P OF-2096, consists of a partial skeleton.^[1]

Basilotritus wardi

Basilotritus wardi is known from a partial skeleton collected in the late Lutetian (~42 Ma) of North Carolina. It was originally described as a species of the protocetid Eocetus, E. wardii.^[2] Because this species displays a mix of protocetid and basilosaurid traits, the original generic assignment was questioned by subsequent authors.^[3] This skepticism was confirmed by the discovery of B. uheni, allowing for "E." wardi to be referred to Basilotritus.^[1]

References

1. Pavel Gol'din and Evgenij Zvonok (2013). "Basilotritus uheni, a New Cetacean (Cetacea, Basilosauridae) from the Late Middle Eocene of Eastern Europe". Journal of Paleontology 87 (2): 254–268. doi:10.1666/12-080R.1.
2. Uhen, Mark D. (1999). "New species of protocetid archaeocete whale, Eocetus wardii (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the middle Eocene of North Carolina". Journal of Paleontology 73 (3): 512–528. Retrieved July 2013.
3. Geisler, Jonathan H; Sanders, Albert E; Luo, Zhe-Xi (July 2005). "A new protocetid whale (Cetacea, Archaeoceti) from the late middle Eocene of South Carolina". American Museum Novitates 3480: 1–68. doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2005)480[0001:ANPWCA]2.0.CO;2. OCLC 4630500767.