Pakicetus

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iPakicetus Fossil range: Eocene
Illustration by Carl Buell, from [2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Cetacea Suborder: Archaeoceti Family: Pakicetidae Subfamily: Pakicetinae Genus: Pakicetus Species: P. inachus
Binomial name
Pakicetus inachus Gingerich & Russell, 1981

Pakicetus is a genus of extinct cetaceans found in the upper Eocene of Pakistan, whence their name. The strata where the fossils were found was then part of the coast of the Tethys Sea.

The first fossil, known only from its skull, was thought to be a mesonychid, but Gingerich and Russell recognized it as an early cetacean from characteristic features of the inner ear, found only in cetaceans: the large auditory bulla is formed from the ectotympanic bone only.

Skeletons were discovered in 2001, revealing that Pakicetus was primarily a land animal, about the size of a wolf.

[edit] References

• P. D. Gingerich & D. E. Russell (1981). "Pakicetus inachus, a new archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the early-middle Eocene Kuldana Formation of Kohat (Pakistan)". Univ. Mich. Contr. Mus. Paleont 25: 235–246.
• J. G. M. Thewissen, E. M. Williams, L. J. Roe and S. T. Hussain (2001). "Skeletons of terrestrial cetaceans and the relationship of whales to artiodactyls". Nature 413: 77–281.