Willungacetus
| Willungacetus Temporal range: Oligocene | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †?Aetiocetidae |
| Genus: | †Willungacetus Pledge 2005 |
| Species | |
|
†W. aldingensis | |
Willungacetus is an extinct genus of primitive baleen whale of the family Aetiocetidae known from the Oligocene of Australia (at Port Willunga, 35°18′S 138°30′E / 35.3°S 138.5°E, paleocoordinates 52°54′S 133°42′E / 52.9°S 133.7°E).[1][2] It is the oldest-known whale from Australia,[3] and the only aetiocetid whale currently known from the Southern Hemisphere.
Neville S. Pledge first visited the type locality in 1983 and collected two boulders. These two rocks, however, were forgotten until 2001 when a partial vertebra were discovered within. The site was subsequently revisited and another specimen, a partial cranium, was discovered. Pledge referred a radius, collected from the same cliff in 1994, to his newly named species.[4]
Pledge provisionally assigned Willungacetus to Aetiocetidae, but this assignment still needs to be confirmed.[5]
Sister Taxa
References
Notes
- ↑ "Willungacetus". Fossilworks. Retrieved January 2014.
- ↑ "Port Willunga cliffs (Oligocene of Australia)". Fossilworks. Retrieved January 2014.
- ↑ "South Australia Museum - Objects of Interest". South Australian Museum. Archived from the original on 2 October 2009. Retrieved 3 July 2008.
- ↑ Pledge 2005, pp. 123–124
- ↑ Deméré & Berta 2008, p. 308
Sources
- Deméré, T. A.; Berta, A. (2008). "Skull anatomy of the Oligocene toothed mysticete Aetioceus weltoni (Mammalia; Cetacea): implications for mysticete evolution and functional anatomy". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 154 (2): 308–352. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00414.x.
- Pledge, N. S. (2005). "A New Species of Early Oligocene Cetacean from Port Willunga, South Australia". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 51 (1): 123–133. Retrieved December 2013. Lay summary (December 2013).