Aglaocetus

Aglaocetus
Temporal range: Early-Late Miocene
~20.4–7.2 Ma
A. moreni skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Superfamily: Balaenopteroidea
Family: Aglaocetidae
Steeman 2007
Genus: Aglaocetus
Kellogg 1934
Species
Synonyms

Aglaocetus is a genus of extinct baleen whales known from the Miocene of Patagonia, the US Eastern Seaboard, Japan and the Low Countries. 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

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Front view of A. moreni skull

There are three currently recognized valid species: Aglaocetus moreni, A. latifrons, and A. rotundus.[1][2][3]

The type species, Aglaocetus moreni, was originally described as a species of Cetotherium, but later recognized as generically distinct from the latter.[4] "Aglaocetus" patulus, described from the Calvert Formation by Remington Kellogg in 1968,[5] was recovered by Bisconti et al. (2013) in a different phylogenetic position than the Aglaocetus type species.[6] In 2020, A. patulus was renamed Atlanticetus.[7]

Distribution

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Fossils of Aglaocetus have been found in:[8]

Miocene

References

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  1. ^ R. Lydekker. 1894. Cetacean skulls from Patagonia. Anales del Museo de la Plata II:1-13
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ R. Kellogg. 1934. The Patagonian Fossil Whalebone Whale, Cetotherium moreni (Lydekker). Carnegie Institution of Washington 447:64-81
  5. ^ R. Kellogg. 1968. A sharp-nosed cetothere from the Miocene Calvert. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 247(7):163-173
  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
  7. ^ Bisconti, M., Damarco, P., Mao, S., Pavia, M. and Carnevale, G. (2020). The earliest baleen whale from the Mediterranean: large-scale implications of an early Miocene thalassotherian mysticete from Piedmont, Italy. Papers in Palaeontology doi:10.1002/spp2.1336
  8. ^ Aglaocetus at Fossilworks.org