Pontogeneus
| Pontogeneus Temporal range: Late Eocene | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Cetacea |
| Suborder: | Archaeoceti |
| Family: | Basilosauridae |
| Genus: | Pontogeneus Leidy, 1852 |
| Binomial name | |
| Pontogeneus brachyspondylus Müller, 1849 | |
Pontogeneus (nomen nudum)[1] is a genus of extinct cetacean known from fossils recovered from Late Eocene sediments (Bartonian-Priabonian stages) of the southeastern United States and Egypt. Pontogeneus is an archaeocete, and its skeleton shares many similarities to that of Basilosaurus cetoides. However, the posterior thoracic vertebrae, the lumbar vertebrae, and the anterior caudal vertebrae exhibit proportions closer to those seen in members of the archaeocete Subfamily Dorudontinae, indicating that Pontogeneus represents a genus separate from Basilosaurus, and is more closely aligned to the smaller genera Zygorhiza and Dorudon.
Like Basilosaurus, Pontogeneus was first recognized from “Dr.” Albert Koch's "Hydrarchos", a 114-foot (35 m) skeleton he had assembled in 1845 from the fossilized remains of several different archaeocetes. Koch's "sea serpent" toured the US and Europe before being destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire on October 10, 1871.[2]
However, before the specimen's destruction, some vertebrae from "Hydrarchos" were used to establish "Zeuglodon brachyspondylus" (Müller 1849), believed to have been collected in either Choctaw or Washington counties in southern Alabama. In 1852, Joseph Leidy had erected "Pontogeneus priscus" based on the centrum of a single cervical vertebra in the collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Leidy noted that the centrum had been collected from exposures along the Washita River in Louisiana. Kellogg 1936 synonymized these two taxa to form Pontogeneus brachyspondylus which he listed as incertae cedis.[3]
Uhen 2005 designated Pontogeneus priscus to be a nomen nudum based on the very limited type specimen. Uhen also designated Zeuglodon brachyspondylus to be a nomen nudum based on the poor quality of the potential type specimens.
Notes
- ↑ Basilosauridae in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved April 2013.
- ↑ Jones 1989
- ↑ Kellogg 1936, p. 248
References
- Jones, D. E. (1989). "Doctor Koch and his "Immense Antediluvian Monsters"". Alabama Heritage 12: 2–19. Retrieved April 2013.
- Kellogg, R. (1936). A review of the Archaeoceti (PDF, 46 Mb). Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington. OCLC 681376. Retrieved July 2013.
- Müller, J. P. (1849). Über die fossilen Reste der Zeuglodonten von Nordamerika mit Rücksicht auf die europäischen Reste aus dieser Familie. Berlin: Reiner. pp. 1–38. OCLC 422134028. Lay summary.
- Thewissen, J.G.M., ed. (1998). The Emergence of Whales: Evolutionary Patterns in the Cetacea. Plenum Press. ISBN 9780306458538.
- Thurmond, J.T.; Jones, D.E. (1981). Fossil Vertebrates of Alabama. University of Alabama Press. OCLC 6144344.
- Uhen, M. D. (2005). "A new genus and species of archaeocete whale from Mississippi". Mississippi Geology 43 (3): 157–172.