Cetotherium
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| Mounted skeleton of Cetotherium riabinini | |
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Cetotherium
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†C. crassangulum Cope 1895 |
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Cetotherium ("whale beast") is a genus of cetaceans from the family Cetotheriidae.[2]
Contents
Taxonomy
The family Cetotheriidae and the genus Cetotherium (sensu lato) have been used as wastebaskets for all kinds of baleen whales, most notably by Brandt 1873, Spassky (1954) and Mčedlidze 1970. Based on more recent phylogenetic studies and revisions of many 19th century genera, much smaller monophyletic Cetotheriidae and Cetotherium sensu stricto is limited to a single or only a few species. For example, Gol'din, Startsev & Krakhmalnaya 2013 included only C. rathkii and C. riabinini in the genus and only ten genera in the family.[3]
Cetotheriidae were thought to have gone extinct during the Pliocene until 2012, when it was hypothesized that the Pygmy right whale was the sole surviving species of this family.[4]
Formerly assigned to Cetotherium
The following species were originally described as nominal species of Cetotherium but have been either reassigned to other genera or removed from Cetotherium:
- Cetotherium furlongi Kellogg, 1925,[5] is known from a partial skull from the Burdigalian of the Vaqueros Formation in California, but the holotype is lost.[6]
- Cetotherium gastaldii Strobel, 1875,[7] known from the early Pliocene-age Sabbie d'Asti Formation of the Piedmont region in Italy, is now the type species of the eschrichtiid genus Eschrichtioides.[8]
- Cetotherium klinderi Brandt, 1871,[9] is known from an isolated earbone from Miocene sediments in Chişinău, Moldova. Although fragmentary, it does not appear to be congeneric with either of the two valid species of Cetotherium.[3]
- Cetotherium maicopicum Spasski, 1951,[10] based on a specimen from the late Miocene of the Russian Caucasus, has been reassigned to the genus Kurdalagonus from the same region.[11]
- Cetotherium mayeri Brandt, 1871,[9] known from a partial skeleton, is apparently not congeneric with Cetotherium.[3]
Evolution
Cetotheres came into existence during the Oligocene epoch. The cetotheres have been divided into two sub-groups. One group includes Cetotherium. From evolutionary perspective, these whales share some characteristics of the Balaenopteridae and Eschrichtiidae.[12]
Paleobiology
Fossil record have revealed predator-prey relationship between large sharks (e.g. C. megalodon) and Cetotheriids. The raptorial toothed whale, Livyatan melvillei, may too have posed a threat to these whales.
See also
References
Notes
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Berta & Deméré 2008
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Gol'din, Startsev & Krakhmalnaya 2013, pp. 2, 4–6
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ R. Kellogg. 1925. Fossil cetotheres from California. Contributions to Palaeontology from the Carnegie Institution of Washington 348(2):35-56
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Strobel, P. (1875). "Notizie preliminari su le Balenoptere fossili subappennine del Museo parmense". Bollettino del R. Comitato Geologico d'Italia (in Italian) 5 (6): 131–140. Retrieved November 2013. Lay summary (November 2013).
- ↑ Bisconti, M. (2008). "Morphology and phylogenetic relationships of a new eschrichtiid genus (Cetacea: Mysticeti) from the Early Pliocene of northern Italy". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 153: 161–186. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00374.x. OCLC 438026086. Lay summary (November 2013).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Brandt, J. F. 1871. Bericht uber den Fortgang meiner Studien uber di Cetaceen, welche das grosse zur Tertiarzeit von Mitteleuropa bis Centralasien hinein ausgedehnte Meeresbechen bevolkerten. Bulletin de l'Academie Imperiale de St. Petersbourg 16: 563–566.
- ↑ P. I. Spasski. 1951. Ostaki tsetoheriev iz Servernogo Kavkaza (okr. g. Maikopa) Remains of cetotheria from the Northern Caucasus in the neighborhood of Maikop Town. Izvestia Akademii Nauk Azerbaidzhanskoi SSR 2:57-65
- ↑ K. K. Tarasenko and A. V. Lopatin. 2012. New Baleen Whale Genera (Cetacea, Mammalia) from the Miocene of the Northern Caucasus and Ciscaucasia: 1. Kurdalagonus gen. nov. from the Middle–Late Sarmatian of Adygea. Paleontological Journal 46(5):531-542
- ↑ Kimura & Ozawa 2002
Sources
- Barry Cox, Colin Harrison, R.J.G. Savage, and Brian Gardiner. (1999): The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures: A Visual Who's Who of Prehistoric Life. Simon & Schuster.
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