Aglaocetus

Aglaocetus
Temporal range: Miocene, 20.4-7.2Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacea
Suborder: Mysticeti
Family: Aglaocetidae
Steeman, 2007
Genus: Aglaocetus
Kellogg, 1934
Species

Aglaocetus is a genus of extinct mysticete known from the Miocene of Patagonia, the US Eastern Seaboard, and Belgium. It was once considered a member of Cetotheriidae along with many other putative cetotheres, but was recently recognized as representing a distinct family from true Cetotheriidae.

Species

There are six currently recognized valid species: Aglaocetus moreni, A. latifrons, A. burtini, A. longifrons, A. rotundus, and A. patulus.[1][2][3][4]

The type species, Aglaocetus moreni, was originally described as a species of Cetotherium, but later recognized as generically distinct from the latter.[5] Recent cladistic analysis failed to recover A. patulus in a monophyletic clade with the genus, suggesting that A. patulus deserves a new generic name.[6]

References

  1. ↑ R. Lydekker. 1894. Cetacean skulls from Patagonia. Anales del Museo de la Plata II:1-13
  2. ↑ R. Kellogg. 1968. A sharp-nosed cetothere from the Miocene Calvert. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 247(7):163-173
  3. ↑ P. J. Van Beneden. 1859. Rapport de M. Van Beneden. Bulletins de L'Academie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique 8:123-146
  4. ↑ P. J. Van Beneden. 1880. Les mysticetes a courts fanons des sables des environs d'anvers. Bulletins de L'Academie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique 1880:11-27
  5. ↑ R. Kellogg. 1934. The Patagonian Fossil Whalebone Whale, Cetotherium moreni (Lydekker). Carnegie Institution of Washington 447:64-81
  6. ↑ M. Bisconti, O. Lambert, and M. Bosselaers. 2013. Taxonomic revision of Isocetus depauwi (Mammalia, Cetacea, Mysticeti) and the phylogenetic relationships of archaic 'cetothere' mysticetes. Palaeontology 56(1):95-127