Macrodelphinus
| Macrodelphinus Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Macrodelphinus and Eurhinodelphis. | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Suborder: | Whippomorpha |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Eurhinodelphinidae |
| Genus: | †Macrodelphinus Wilson 1935 |
| Species: | †M. kelloggi
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| Binomial name | |
| †Macrodelphinus kelloggi Wilson 1935
| |
Macrodelphinus is an extinct genus of primitive odontocete known from Early Miocene marine deposits in California.
Biology
Macrodelphinus was an orca-sized odontocete similar to members of Eurhinodelphinidae in having a swordfish-like rostrum and upper jaw. Because of its size, and inch-long teeth, it is believed to have been an apex predator.
Classification
Macrodelphinus is known from a fragmentary skull from the Early Miocene Jewett Sand Formation of Kern County, southern California.[1] Although often classified as a member of Eurhinodelphinidae, the cladistic analysis of Chilcacetus recovers it outside Eurhinodelphinidae, less advanced than Eoplatanista.[2] The Miocene species "Champsodelphis" valenciennesii Brandt, 1873, based on a rostrum fragment from marine sediments in Landes, France, was assigned to Macrodelphinus by Kellogg (1944).[3]
References
- ^ L. E. Wilson. 1935. Miocene marine mammals from the Bakersfield region, California. The Peabody Museum of Natural History Bulletin 4:1-143.
- ^ O. Lambert, C. de Muizon, and G. Bianucci. 2015. A new archaic homodont toothed cetacean (Mammalia, Cetacea, Odontoceti) from the early Miocene of Peru. Geodiversitas 37(1):79-108
- ^ R. Kellogg. 1944. Fossil Cetaceans from the Florida Tertiary. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College XCIV(9):433-471.
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