Microcetus is a genus of extinct odontocete from the late Oligocene (Chattian) of Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Microcetus
Temporal range: Late Oligocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Waipatiidae (?)
Genus: Microcetus
Kellogg, 1923
Species
  • M. ambiguus (von Meyer, 1840) (type)
  • ?M. sharkovi Dubrovo and Sharkov 1971

Taxonomy

edit

The type species of Microcetus, M. ambiguus, was originally described as a new species of Phoca on the basis of teeth from late Oligocene deposits in northwestern Germany.[1] The odontocete nature of the teeth was eventually recognized, and it was eventually assigned to Squalodon,[2][3] before being made the type species of a new genus, Microcetus.[4]

Misassigned species

edit
  • Microcetus hectori Benham, 1935 = Waipatia hectori
  • Microcetus sharkovi Dubrovo and Sharkov, 1971[5] = likely a distinct genus, but affinities uncertain[6][7]

References

edit
  1. ^ H. Meyer. 1840. Phoca ambiguua, Munster. Beitrage zur Petrefacten-Kunde 3:1-11
  2. ^ E. L. Trouessart. 1898. Catalogus mammalium tam viventium quam fossilum 5:665-1264
  3. ^ G. Dal Piaz. 1916. Squalodon. Memoirie dell'Instituto geologico della R. Università di Padova 4:1-94
  4. ^ R. Kellogg. 1923. Description of two squalodonts recently discovered in the Calvert Cliffs, Maryland; and notes on the shark-toothed cetaceans. Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum 62(16):1-69
  5. ^ I. A. Dubrovo and A. A. Sharkov. 1971. Kit iz verkhnego oligotsena Mangyshlaka (Whale from the upper Oligocene of Mangyshlak). Doklady Akademii Nauk SSR, Moscow 198(6):140-143
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ Y. Tanaka and R. E. Fordyce. 2015. Historically significant late Oligocene dolphin Microcetus hectori Benham 1935: a new species of Waipatia (Platanistoidea). Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand