Ichthyolestes

Ichtyolestes
Temporal range: Early Eocene, 50 Ma
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.[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

  1. Ichthyolestes in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved June 2013.
  2. Spoor et al. 2002, p. 164

References


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