Biology:Hoplocetus
| Hoplocetus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Superfamily: | Physeteroidea |
| Family: | incertae sedis |
| Genus: | †Hoplocetus Gervais, 1852 |
| Species | |
Hoplocetus is an extinct genus of raptorial cetacean of the sperm whale superfamily, Physeteroidea.[3] Its remains have been found in the Miocene of Belgium, France, Germany and Malta, the Pliocene of Belgium and France, and the Pleistocene of the United Kingdom and South Carolina.[1]
Dentition
The teeth of Hoplocetus are massive (95–150 mm in length; 27–47 in maximum diameter), robust and have a short enamel cap on the crowns.[3] They are somewhat larger than those of modern orcas[4] but considerably smaller than those of macroraptorial sperm whales, such as Zygophyseter, as well as those of Scaldicetus caretti.[5] They display a large degree of abrasion, suggesting a highly predatory niche comparable to that of modern orcas.[3] The genus of the latter, Orcinus, first appears in the middle Pliocene and it may have eventually replaced Hoplocetus.[3]
These teeth features also characterize the other extinct toothed whale genera, Diaphorocetus, Idiorophus and Scaldicetus, sometimes placed with Hoplocetus in the subfamily Hoplocetinae.[6] However, some of these taxa are fragmentary and have been used as wastebasket taxa for non-diagnostic material of stem physeteroids.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Hoplocetus in the Paleobiology Database". Fossilworks. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=36728.
- ↑ Leidy, J. (1868). "Notice of Some Extinct Cetaceans". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 20: 196–197. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/85212#/summary. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Hampe, O. (2006). "Middle/late Miocene hoplocetine sperm whale remains (Odontoceti: Physeteridae) of North Germany with an emended classification of the Hoplocetinae". Fossil Record 9 (1): 61–86. doi:10.1002/mmng.200600002.
- ↑ Bradford, A. (2014-11-20). "Orcas: Facts About Killer Whales". https://www.livescience.com/27431-orcas-killer-whales.html.
- ↑ Reumer, J. W. F.; Mens, T. H.; Post, K. (2017). "New Finds of Giant Raptorial Sperm Whale Teeth (Cetacea, Physeteroidea) from the Westerschelde Estuary (Province of Zeeland, the Netherlands)". Deinsea 17: 32–38. http://www.hetnatuurhistorisch.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/documents-nmr/Publicaties/Deinsea/Deinsea_17/Deinsea_17_32-38_Reumer_et_al.pdf. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
- ↑ Toscano, A.; Abad, M.; Ruiz, F.; Muñiz, F.; Álvarez, G.; García, E.; Caro, J. A. (2013). "Nuevos Restos de Scaldicetus (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Physeteridae) del Mioceno Superior, Sector Occidental de la Cuenca del Guadalquivir (Sur de España)" (in Spanish). Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas 30 (2). http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1026-87742013000200013.
Wikidata ☰ Q58901438 entry
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