Cynthiacetus

Cynthiacetus Temporal range: Late Eocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skeleton at the MNHN, Paris
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Cetacea
Suborder:	†Archaeoceti
Family:	†Basilosauridae
Genus:	†Cynthiacetus Uhen 2005
Species
†C. maxwelli (type) Uhen 2005 †C. peruvianus Martínez-Cáceres & Muizon 2011

Cynthiacetus is an extinct genus of basilosaurid early whale that lived during the Upper Eocene (Bartonian-Priabonian, 40.4 to 33.9 million years ago.)^[1] Specimens has been found in the south-eastern United States, Egypt and Peru.^[2]

Skull of C. peruvianus at the MNHN, Paris

The skull of Cynthiacetus was similar in size and morphology to that of Basilosaurus, but Cynthiacetus lacked the elongated vertebrae of Basilosaurus. Uhen 2005 erected the genus to avoid the nomen dubium Pontogeneus (which was based on poorly described and now vanished specimens).^[3] Cynthiacetus was smaller than Masracetus.^[4]

The South American species C. peruvianus, the first archaeocete to be described on that continent, mainly differs from C. maxwelli in the number of cuspids in the lower premolars, but it also has the greatest numbers of thoracic vertebrae (20).^[2]

Notes

1. Cynthiacetus maxwelli in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved July 2013.
2. Martínez-Cáceres & Muizon 2011, Abstract
3. Uhen 2008, p. 93
4. Gingerich 2007, p. 375

References

• Gingerich, Philip D (2007). "Stromerius nidensis, new archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Upper Eocene Qasr El-Sagha Formation, Fayum, Egypt" (PDF). Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology 31 (13): 363–78. OCLC 214233870.
• Martínez-Cáceres, Manuel; Muizon, Christian, de (2011). "A new basilosaurid (Cetacea, Pelagiceti) from the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene Otuma Formation of Peru". Comptes Rendus Palevol 10: 517–26. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2011.03.006. OCLC 802202947.
• Uhen, Mark D. (2005). "A new genus and species of archaeocete whale from Mississippi". Southeastern Geology 43 (3): 157–72.
• Uhen, Mark D. (2008). "Basilosaurids". In Perrin, William F.; Wursig, Bernd; J.; Thewissen, J.G.M. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals (2 ed.). Academic Press. pp. 91–4. ISBN 978-0-12-373553-9.