Biology:Notocetus
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
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
Fossils of Notocetus have been found in:[7]
- Monte León Formation, Argentina
- Pietra Leccese Formation, Italy
- Chilcatay Formation, Peru
Palaeobiology
Palaeoecology
Paired analysis of the ultrastructure of its enamel, which was thin in the anterior teeth and thick in the posterior teeth, and its skull morphology suggests that N. vanbenedeni was a suction feeder.[8]
References
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 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. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2014.08.003. Bibcode: 2015CRPal..14....5B.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ R. Lydekker. 1894. Cetacean skulls from Patagonia. Anales del Museo de la Plata II:1-13.
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 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
- ↑ Notocetus at Fossilworks.org
- ↑ Viglino, Mariana; Ezcurra, Martín D.; Fordyce, R. Ewan; Loch, Carolina (8 October 2023). "The better to eat you with: morphological disparity and enamel ultrastructure in odontocetes" (in en). Scientific Reports 13 (1). doi:10.1038/s41598-023-44112-8. ISSN 2045-2322. PMID 37807006. PMC 10560669. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-44112-8#citeas. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
Template:Odontoceti Wikidata ☰ Q43079828 entry
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