Ichthyolestes
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| Ichtyolestes Temporal range: Early Eocene | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Cetacea |
| Suborder: | Archaeoceti |
| Family: | Pakicetidae |
| Genus: | Ichtyolestes Dehm & Oettingen-Spielberg 1958 |
| Binomial name | |
| Ichthyolestes pinfoldi Dehm & Oettingen-Spielberg 1958 | |
Ichthyolestes ("fish thief") is a genus of extinct early whale belonging to the family Pakicetidae endemic to northern Pakistan, living during the Lutetian stage of the Middle Eocene (48.6 to 40.4 mya) and existing for approximately 8.4 million years.[1]
Ichthyolestes, the oldest of the pakicetids, had semicircular canals in the inner ear the same size as the living relatives of cetaceans, the artiodactyls, in contrast to the reduced size found in later pakicetids and protocetids, such as Remingtonocetus, Indocetus, and Dorudon, and extant cetaceans.[2]
Notes
- ↑ Ichthyolestes in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved June 2013.
- ↑ Spoor et al. 2002, p. 164
References
- Dehm, Richard; Oettingen-Spielberg, Therese zu (1958). Paläontologische und geologische Untersuchungen im Tertiär von Pakistan. 2. Die mitteleocänen Säugetiere von Ganda Kas bei Basal in Nordwest-Pakistan. Abhandlungen / Neue Folge, 91. Munich: Beck. OCLC 163296508.
- Spoor, F.; Bajpai, S.; Hussain, S. T.; Kumar, K.; Thewissen, J. G. (2002). "Vestibular evidence for the evolution of aquatic behaviour in early cetaceans". Nature 417 (6885): 163–66. doi:10.1038/417163a. Retrieved June 2013.
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