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Basilosaurus

Mammalia - Cetacea - Basilosauridae

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1834Basilosaurus Harlan p. 403 figs. Plate XX
1839Zeuglodon Owen p. 28
1842Zeuglodon De Kay p. 123
1845Hydrarchos Koch
1845Hydrarchos harlani Koch
1845Hydrargos Koch
1845Hydrarchos harlani Koch p. 1
1849Hydrarchus Muller p. 3
1853Zeuglodon Bronn p. 763
1853Zeuglodon Pictet p. 376
1866Zeuglodon Haeckel figs. Plate VIII
1867Basilosaurus Cope p. 144
1871Basilosaurus Gill p. 125
1873Zeuglodon puschii Brandt p. 112
1874Zeuglodon Brandt p. III
1882Zugodon Scudder p. 357
1887Zeuglodon Lydekker p. 49
1890Zeuglodon Cope p. 602
1894Zeuglodon Zittel p. 167
1898Zeuglodon Trouessart p. 1009
1898Zeuglodon puschii Trouessart p. 1010
1902Basilosaurus Hay p. 586
1904Basilosaurus Palmer p. 134
1904Hydrarchos Palmer p. 334
1904Zeuglodon Palmer p. 715
1904Basilosaurus Trouessart p. 753
1904Basilosaurus puschi Trouessart p. 753
1906Alabamornis Abel pp. 450-458
1906Zeuglodon Andrews p. 236
1908Basilosaurus Stromer p. 148
1914Zeuglodon Abel p. 220
1919Zeuglodon Abel p. 751
1921Zeuglodon Winge p. 7
1923Basilosaurus Miller p. 40
1925Zeuglodon Zittel p. 84
1928Basilosaurus Kellogg p. 32 figs. Table 1
1930Basilosaurus Hay p. 569
1936Basilosaurus Kellogg p. 14
1936Zeuglodon Slijper
1945Basilosaurus Simpson p. 100
1952Basilosaurus Sherman p. 99
1954Basilosaurus Moustafa p. 87
1970Basilosaurus Mchedlidze p. 50
1972Basilosaurus Halstead and Middleton
1981Basilosaurus Thurmond and Jones p. 193
1986Basilosaurus Hooker p. 342
1988Basilosaurus Carroll
1993Basilosaurus Benton p. 761
1997Basilosaurus Gingerich et al.
1997Basilosaurus McKenna and Bell p. 369
1998Basilosaurus Uhen p. 31
1999Basilosaurus Bergqvist et al. p. 31
2001Basilosaurus Thewissen et al. p. 351 figs. Table 1
2002Basilosaurus Sepkoski
2003Basilosaurus Geisler and Sanders p. 27
2004Basilosaurus Uhen p. 12
2004Basilosaurus van Vliet p. 143
2006Basilosaurus Clementz et al. p. 359
2008Basilosaurus McLeod and Barnes p. 94
2008Basilosaurus Uhen p. 561
2009Basilosaurus Spaulding et al. p. 3
2009Basilosaurus Uhen p. 93
2010Basilosaurus Fitzgerald p. 370 figs. Table 1
2011Basilosaurus Martinez-Cáceres and Muizon p. 518
2011Basilosaurus Schouten p. 18
2012Basilosaurus Gingerich p. 313 figs. Figure 4
2012Basilosaurus puschi Kalmykov p. 179
2013Basilosaurus El-kheir et al. p. 465
2013Basilosaurus Uhen p. 5 figs. Figure 3
2014Basilosaurus Gingerich and Cappetta p. 128 figs. Figure 16
2015Basilosaurus Boessenecker and Fordyce figs. Table 1
2015Basilosaurus Gao and Ni p. 156 figs. Table 1
2017Basilosaurus Berta p. 159
2017Basilosaurus Martínez-Cáceres et al. p. 11
2018Basilosaurus Uhen
2019Basilosaurus Mahdy et al.
2020Basilosaurus Zalmout et al. p. 130
2021Basilosaurus Smith et al.

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
Bilateria
EubilateriaAx 1987
Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
Tetrapoda
Reptiliomorpha
Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
Cotylosauria()
Amniota
subclassSynapsida
Therapsida()
infraorderCynodontia()
Mammaliamorpha
Mammaliaformes
RankNameAuthor
classMammalia
Theriamorpha(Rowe 1993)
Theriiformes()
Trechnotheria
Cladotheria
Zatheria
subclassTribosphenida()
subclassTheria
Eutheria()
Placentalia
Boreoeutheria
Laurasiatheria
Scrotifera
Euungulata
Artiodactylamorpha
Artiodactyla()
Whippomorpha
orderCetacea
Pelagiceti
familyBasilosauridae
genusBasilosaurus

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. †Basilosaurus Harlan 1834
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Basilosaurus cetoides Owen 1839
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Invalid names: Alabamornis gigantea Abel 1906 [synonym], Hydrarchos sillimani Wyman 1845 [synonym], Hydrargos sillimanii Koch 1845 [synonym], Zeuglodon ceti Wyman 1845 [synonym], Zeuglodon harlani De Kay 1842 [synonym], Zeuglodon macrospondylus Müller 1849 [synonym]
Basilosaurus isis Andrews 1904
Invalid names: Alabamornis Abel 1906 [synonym], Basilosaurus puschi Brandt 1873 [nomen dubium], Hydrarchos Koch 1845 [synonym], Hydrarchus Muller 1849 [synonym], Hydrargos Koch 1845 [synonym], Zeuglodon Owen 1839 [objective synonym], Zugodon Scudder 1882 [synonym], Zygodon Owen 1839 [synonym]
Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
M. D. Uhen 2008Basilosaurus is distinguished from other basilosaurids by its large body size and elongate posterior thoracic, lumbar, and anterior caudal vertebrae. Basilosaurus lacks the vertically oriented metapophyses seen in Basiloterus (Gingerich et al., 1997).
M. D. Uhen 2013Members of the genus Basilosaurus can be distinguished from all other basilosaurids by their large size (>15 m length) and the great elongation of the pos- terior thoracic, lumbar, and anterior caudal vertebral bodies (length around 2 times width or height). Vertebrae assigned to members of Basilotritus wardii and related taxa share a somewhat similar elongation in the trunk verte- brae, but not to the same degree as seen in Basilosaurus. In addition, the pedicles, neural arches, neural spines, and transverse processes of the trunk vertebrae of Basilotritus wardii and related taxa are also greatly elongated, while in Basilosaurus, they are not elongated to the same degree, and the number of thoracic vertebrae in Basilotritus wardii is 12, like that of Protocetidae and unlike other Basilosau- ridae. See Remarks section below.