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Eocetus

Mammalia - Cetacea - Protocetidae

Taxonomy

Eocetus was named by Fraas (1904) [Sepkoski's age data: T Eo-m-u T Eo-u Sepkoski's reference number: 1009]. It was considered monophyletic by Uhen (2008).

It was assigned to Zeuglodontidae by Abel (1914), Abel (1919) and Zittel (1925); to Cetacea by Sepkoski (2002); to Protocetinae by Uhen (1999), Uhen (2001), McLeod and Barnes (2008) and Uhen (2008); to Archaeoceti by Goldin et al. (2012); to Basilosauridae by Gingerich and Zouhri (2015); to Georgiacetinae by Gingerich et al. (2005), Uhen and Berndt (2008) and Gao and Ni (2015); and to Protocetidae by Stromer (1908), Kellogg (1928), Slijper (1936), Kellogg (1936), Simpson (1945), Carroll (1988), McKenna and Bell (1997), Uhen (2002), van Vliet (2004), Uhen et al. (2011), Goldin and Zvonok (2013), Uhen (2014), Marx et al. (2016) and Berta (2017).

Species

E. drazindai, E. schweinfurthi

Synonyms

Mesocetus was named by Fraas (1904).

It was replaced with Eocetus by Fraas (1904), Zittel (1925), Kellogg (1936) and Simpson (1945).

It was assigned to Archaeoceti by Fraas (1904).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1904	Eocetus Fraas
1904	Mesocetus Fraas
1908	Eocetus Stromer p. 148
1914	Eocetus Abel p. 220
1919	Eocetus Abel p. 751
1925	Eocetus Zittel p. 84
1928	Eocetus Kellogg p. 32 figs. Table 1
1936	Eocetus Kellogg p. 231
1936	Eocetus Slijper p. 540
1945	Eocetus Simpson p. 100
1988	Eocetus Carroll
1997	Eocetus McKenna and Bell p. 370
1999	Eocetus Uhen
2001	Eocetus Uhen p. 136
2002	Eocetus Sepkoski
2002	Eocetus Uhen p. 80
2004	Eocetus van Vliet p. 143
2005	Eocetus Gingerich et al. p. 200
2008	Eocetus McLeod and Barnes p. 93
2008	Eocetus Uhen p. 560
2008	Eocetus Uhen and Berndt p. 57
2011	Eocetus Uhen et al. p. 966
2012	Eocetus Goldin et al. p. 105
2013	Eocetus Goldin and Zvonok p. 254
2014	Eocetus Uhen p. 1030
2015	Eocetus Gao and Ni p. 156 figs. Table 1
2015	Eocetus Gingerich and Zouhri p. 282
2016	Eocetus Marx et al. p. 100
2017	Eocetus Berta p. 159

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
subclass	Synapsida
—	Therapsida	()
infraorder	Cynodontia	()
—	Mammaliamorpha

Rank	Name	Author
—	Mammaliaformes
class	Mammalia
—	Theriamorpha	(Rowe 1993)
—	Theriiformes	()
—	Trechnotheria
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Boreoeutheria
—	Laurasiatheria
—	Scrotifera
—	Euungulata
—	Artiodactylamorpha
—	Artiodactyla	()
—	Whippomorpha
order	Cetacea
family	Protocetidae
genus	Eocetus

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Eocetus Fraas 1904

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†Eocetus drazindai Gingerich et al. 1997

†Eocetus schweinfurthi Fraas 1904

Invalid names: Mesocetus Fraas 1904 [replaced]

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
M. D. Uhen 2001	Eocetus is larger than all other protocetines for which the skull is known (Protocetus, Gaviacetus, Takracetus, Babiacetus, and Georgiacetus). Based on the size of their vertebrae, Pappocetus and Natchitochia could rival Eocetus in skull length, but both have vertebrae assigned to them which are very different from those of Eocetus (Halstead and Middleton, 1974; Uhen, 1998b). The vertebrae of Eocetus have a distinctive pock-marked texture. The pock marks are actually small vascular channels that penetrate deeply into the bone. In addition, the centra, neural arches, neural spines, and transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae are antero-posteriorly elongate, unlike the vertebrae of Pappocetus and Natchitochia.
M. D. Uhen 2008	Eocetus is larger than all other protocetines, except possibly Pappocetus and Natchitochia, but both genera have vertebrae assigned to them that are very different from those of Eocetus (Halstead and Middleton, 1974; Uhen, 1998b). The bones of Eocetus have distinctive pock-marks, which are small vascular channels that penetrate deeply into the bone. In addition, the centra, neural arches, neural spines, and transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae are antero-posteriorly elongated, unlike those of Pappocetus and Natchitochia.
M. D. Uhen and H.-J. Berndt 2008	Only the diagnostic features of Eocetus vertebrae are listed here. The bone of Eocetus vertebrae has a distinc- tive pock-marked texture. The pock marks are actually small vascular channels that penetrate deeply into the bone. In addition, the centra, neural arches, neural spines, and transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae are antero-posteriorly elongate, unlike the vertebrae of other protocetids. These features are all apomorphic for Eocetus. Many of the plesiomorphic features of Eocetus are found in the skull, and the hind limb, neither of which are preserved here.