Notocetus

Notocetus
Temporal range: Early Miocene
~20.43–16 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Squalodelphinidae
Genus: Notocetus
Moreno, 1892
Species:
N. vanbenedeni
Binomial name
Notocetus vanbenedeni
Moreno, 1892
Synonyms
  • Argyrodelphis Lydekker, 1894
  • Diochotichus Ameghino, 1894
  • Diochoticus Ameghino, 1894

Notocetus is an extinct genus of river dolphin belonging to Squalodelphinidae. Known specimens have been found in Early Miocene marine deposits from Argentina, Italy and Peru.[1][2]

Taxonomy[edit]

Notocetus was unnecessarily given the replacement name Diochoticus by Ameghino (1894) on the false assumption that Notocetus was preoccupied by Notiocetus. Lydekker (1894), meanwhile, erected Argyrodelphis for the same specimen.[3][4] The type species of Otekaikea was once considered a species of Notocetus before being recognized as belonging to Waipatiidae.[5][6]

Distribution[edit]

Fossils of Notocetus have been found in:[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ F. P. Moreno. 1892. Lijeros apuntes sobre dos géneros de cetaceos fósiles de la República Argentina. Revista del Museo de La Plata 3:393-400
  2. ^ Bianucci, Giovanni; Urbina, Mario; Lambert, Olivier (2015). "A new record of Notocetus vanbenedeni (Squalodelphinidae, Odontoceti, Cetacea) from the Early Miocene of Peru". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 14 (1): 5–13. Bibcode:2015CRPal..14....5B. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2014.08.003.
  3. ^ F. Ameghino. 1894. Enumeration synoptique des especes de mammifères fossiles des formations éocènes de Patagonie. Boletin de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias en Cordoba (Republica Argentina) 13:259-452.
  4. ^ R. Lydekker. 1894. Cetacean skulls from Patagonia. Anales del Museo de la Plata II:1-13.
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Y. Tanaka and R. E. Fordyce. 2014. Fossil dolphin Otekaikea marplesi (Latest Oligocene, New Zealand) expands the morphological and taxonomic diversity of Oligocene cetaceans. PLoS One 9(9):e107972
  7. ^ Notocetus at Fossilworks.org