Scaldicetus

Scaldicetus
Scaldicetus grandis teeth
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacea
Suborder: Odontoceti
Family: Physeteridae
Genus: Scaldicetus
Du Bus, 1867
Species
  • Scaldicetus caretti du Bus, 1867 (type)
  • Scaldicetus grandis (du Bus, 1872)
  • Scaldicetus oxymycterus (Kellogg, 1925)

Scaldicetus is an extinct genus of toothed cetacean related to sperm whales. Although widely used for a number of extinct physeterids with primitive dental morphology consisting of enameled teeth, Scaldicetus as generally recognized appears to be a paraphyletic assemblage of primitive physeteroids.[1]

Scaldicetus caretti vertebrae

Taxonomy

The name Scaldicetus caretti was coined in 1867 for numerous physeteroid teeth collected in Neogene deposits near Antwerp, Belgium.[2] Synonyms of Scaldicetus include Palaeodelphis, Homocetus, and Eucetus.[3] The genus Physodon Gervais 1872 was previously considered a synonym, but it has been recently considered a nomen dubium.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Hirota, K.; Barnes, L. G. (1994). "A new species of Middle Miocene sperm whale of the genus Scaldicetus (Cetacea; Physeteridae) from Shiga-mura, Japan". The Island Arc 3 (4): 453. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1738.1994.tb00125.x.
  2. ↑ Du Bus, B.A.L., 1867. Sur quelques Mammifères du Cragd’Anvers. Bulletin de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 24: 562-577.
  3. ↑ McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp.
  4. ↑ O. Hampe. 2006. Middle/late Miocene hoplocetine sperm whale remains (Odontoceti: Physeteridae) of North Germany with an emended clasification of Hoplocetinae. Fossil Record 9(1):61-86