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List of extinct cetaceans



Cetaceans
Fossil range: Early Eocene - Recent

A skull of Basilosaurus cetoides.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacea
Brisson, 1762

The list of extinct cetaceans features the extinct species of the order Cetacea. The cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are descendants of land-living mammals, the even-toed ungulates. The earliest cetaceans were still hoofed-mammals. These early cetaceans became gradually better adapted for swimming than for walking on land, finally evolving into fully marine cetaceans.

This list currently includes only fossil species. However, the Atlantic population of Gray Whales (Eschrichtius robustus) was hunted to extinction in the 17th century, and the Baiji (or Chinese River Dolphin, Lipotes vexillifer) was declared "functionally extinct" after an expedition in late 2006 failed to find any in the Yangtze River.

Contents

Family Protocetidae

(Eocene)

  • Artiocetus clavis[1]
  • Protocetus atavus
  • Rodhocetus balochistanensis
  • Rhodocetus kasrani

Family Pakicetidae

(Early to Middle Eocene)

  • Gandakasia
  • Pakicetus inachus
  • Nalacetus
  • Ichthyolestes

Family Ambulocetidae

(Eocene)

  • Ambulocetus natans
  • Himalayacetus subathuensis

Family Dorudontidae

(Eocene)

  • Dorudon atrox
  • Zygorhiza kochii

Family Basilosauridae

(Late Eocene)

  • Basilosaurus cetoides
  • Basilosaurus drazindai
  • Basilosaurus isis

Family Mammalodontidae

(Eocene - Late Oligocene)

  • Mammalodon colliveri

Family Janjucetidae

(Late Oligocene)

  • Janjucetus hunderi

Family Kentriodontidae

(Late Oligocene - Middle Miocene)

  • Kentriodon

Family Rhabdosteidae (Eurhinodelphidae)

(Mid to Late Miocene)

  • Eurhinodelphis ambiguus
  • Eurhinodelphis cocheuteuxi
  • Eurhinodelphis longirostris
  • Rhabdosteus

Family Squalodontidae

  • Prosqualodon (Oligocene to the early Miocene)
  • Squalodon (Miocene and Pliocene)

Family Cetotheriidae

(Miocene - Early Pleistocene)

  • Cetotherium
  • Piscobalaena nana[2]

Family Odobenocetopsidae

(Pliocene)

  • Odobenocetops peruvianus
  • Odobenocetops leptodon

Family not yet specified

  • Eobalaenoptera harrisoni (Middle Miocene)

References

  1. ^ Gingerich, P.D. et al. 2001. Origin of Whales from Early Artiodactyls: Hands and Feet of Eocene Protocetidae from Pakistan. (19 September 2001). Science [DOI: 10.1126/science.1063902].
  2. ^ Bouetel V. & Muizon C. de 2006. — The anatomy and relationships of Piscobalaena nana (Cetacea, Mysticeti), a Cetotheriidae s.s. from the early Pliocene of Peru. Geodiversitas 28 (2) : 319-395. Online pdf

(See also external links)

See also

Cetaceans Portal


 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "List_of_extinct_cetaceans". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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