Herpetocetus
| Herpetocetus Temporal range: late Miocene–early Pleistocene
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| Herpetocetus bramblei | |
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| Genus: | †Herpetocetus van Beneden, 1872
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Herpetocetus was a genus of cetotheriid whales. It was smaller than modern baleen whales, measured just 3 to 4 meters, and due to its jaw structure, it couldn’t open its mouth as wide as them, which meant it was incapable of doing lunge feeding.[1]
Description
Herpetocetus morrowi had an elongated snout and a roughly quadrate skull, and also probably did a feeding strategy very similar to that of the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus).[2] Also, Herpetocetus had a unique shape, making it resemble a dolphin rather than a whale as seen by its elongated and a bit slender body.
One young specimen discovered in Hokkaido, Japan includes a partial skull, mandible, vertebrae, and a scapula, and this specimen also exhibits a postglenoid process of the squamosal more transversely compressed than in the genus Nannocetus.[3]
Species
Herpetocetus has four recognized species:
- †Herpetocetus bramblei Whitmore and Barnes, 2008
- †Herpetocetus morrowi El Adli, Deméré, and Boessenecker, 2014
- †Herpetocetus scaldiensis van Beneden, 1872 (type)
- †Herpetocetus transatlanticus Whitmore and Barnes, 2008
Related pages
References
- ↑ Boessnecker, R.W. (2013). "Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae)". Naturwissenschaften.
- ↑ Anderson, Natali (18 Jun 2014). "Herpetocetus morrowi: New Fossil Species of Dwarf Baleen Whale Discovered". Sci.News.
- ↑ "A geologically old and ontogenetically young Herpetocetus sp. from the late Miocene of Hokkaido, Japan". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.