Basilosaurus
Basilosaurus is a genus of cetacean that lived from 40 to 34 million years ago during the end of the Eocene period. The first Basilosaurus fossils were found in Louisiana, USA, but another species was soon discovered preserved in large numbers in the Fayum deposits of Egypt.
| Basilosaurus Temporal range: Late Eocene
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| A skull of Basilosaurus cetoides | |
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| Subfamily: | Basilosaurinae Cope, 1868
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| Genus: | Basilosaurus Harlan, 1834
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A Basilosaurus cetoides fossil was discovered in the United States and was initially believed to be some sort of reptile, but it was later found to be a marine mammal.[1] Richard Owen wanted to rename the creature differently, but by taxonomic rules, the creature's first name remained permanent. Fossils of Basilosaurus isis have been found in Egypt and Jordan.[2]
Far from being a marine reptile, Basilosaurus is a stage in the evolution of whales. At 15–20 m (49–66 ft), Basilosaurus was one of the largest oceanic animals of all time.[3][4][5][6] It went extinct during the Eocene extinction event.
References
change- Kellogg, R. (1936). A review of the Archaeoceti (PDF, 46.3 Mb). Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington. OCLC 681376.
- ↑ "Basilosaurus". BBC Nature. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ↑ Zalmout I.S; Mustafa H.A. & Gingerich P.D. 2000. Priabonian Basilosaurus isis (Cetacea) from the Wadi Esh-Shallala Formation: first marine mammal from the Eocene of Jordan. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20 (1): 201–204. [1][permanent dead link]
- ↑ Gingerich, P. D. (2012). "Evolution of Whales from Land to Sea". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 156 (3): 309–323. JSTOR 23558092.
- ↑ Gingerich, P. D. (2008). "Early Evolution of Whales: A Century of Research in Egypt" (PDF). In Fleagle, J. G.; Gilbert, C. C. (eds.). Elwyn Simons: A Search for Origins. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. pp. 107–124. ISBN 978-0-387-73895-6.
- ↑ Voss, Manja; Antar, Mohammed Sameh M.; Zalmout, Iyad S.; Gingerich, Philip D. (2019). "Stomach contents of the archaeocete Basilosaurus isis: Apex predator in oceans of the late Eocene". PLOS ONE. 14 (1): e0209021. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0209021. PMC 6326415. PMID 30625131.
- ↑ Kellogg 1936