Eomysticetus
| Eomysticetus Temporal range: Chattian | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Cetacea |
| Suborder: | Mysticeti |
| Superfamily: | Chaeomysticeti |
| Family: | Eomysticetidae |
| Genus: | Eomysticetus Sanders and Barnes, 2002 |
| Species | |
|
†E. carolinensis Sanders and Barnes, 2002 | |
Eomysticetus is an extinct genus of toothless baleen whale from the late Oligocene (Chattian) Chandler Bridge Formation of South Carolina.[1]
Physical characteristics
Eomysticetus is a member of the family Eomysticetidae, which also includes Micromysticetus, Tohoraata, Tokarahia, and Yamatocetus.[2] Like other members of the mysticete clade Chaeomysticeti, its jaws had baleen instead of teeth, meaning that it could filter plankton with its baleen plates.[3][4][5][6]
Unlike modern baleen whales, Eomysticetus had a blowhole that was positioned ahead of the eyes, and the characteristics of its vertebrae and flipper bones are akin to those of archaeocetes like Basilosaurus.[3]
Taxonomy
There are two species of Eomysticetus, E. whitmorei and E. carolinensis, both from the Chandler Bridge Formation of South Carolina.[1]
References
- 1 2 Sanders, A. E.; Barnes, L. G. (2002). "Paleontology of the Late Oligocene Ashley and Chandler Bridge Formations of South Carolina, 3: Eomysticetidae, a new family of primitive mysticetes (Mammalia: Cetacea)". In Emry, R. J. Cenozoic Mammals of Land and Sea: Tributes to the Career of Clayton E. Ray. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 93. pp. 313–356. Retrieved October 2014. (148Mb)
- ↑ Boessenecker, Robert W. "Dissertation research on archaic fossil baleen whales (Eomysticetidae) from the Oligocene of New Zealand". Retrieved October 2014.
- 1 2 "Eomysticetus whitmorei". NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine. Retrieved October 2014.
- ↑ Y. Okazaki. 2012. A new mysticete form the upper Oligocene Ashiya Group, Kyushu, Japan and its significance to mysticete evolution. Bulletin of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History Series A (Natural History) 10:129-152
- ↑ Boessenecker, R. W., Fordyce, R. E. (2014), A new Eomysticetid (Mammalia: Cetacea) from the Late Oligocene of New Zealand and a re-evaluation of ‘Mauicetus’ waitakiensis. Papers in Palaeontology. doi: 10.1002/spp2.1005
- ↑ Robert W. Boessenecker and R. Ewan Fordyce (2015). "A new genus and species of eomysticetid (Cetacea: Mysticeti) and a reinterpretation of ‘Mauicetus’ lophocephalus Marples, 1956: Transitional baleen whales from the upper Oligocene of New Zealand". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. in press. doi:10.1111/zoj.12297.