Mammalia - Cetacea - Cetotheriidae
Full reference: J. J. El Adli, T. A. Deméré, and R. W. Boessenecker. 2014. Herpetocetus morrowi (Cetacea: Mysticeti), a new species of diminutive baleen whale from the Upper Pliocene (Piacenzian) of California, USA, with observations on the evolution and relationships of the Cetotheriidae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 170:400-466
Belongs to Herpetocetus according to F. G. Marx et al. 2016
See also El Adli et al. 2014, Gol'din and Steeman 2015, Marx and Fordyce 2015 and Tanaka et al. 2018
Sister taxa: Herpetocetus bramblei, Herpetocetus scaldiensis, Herpetocetus sendaicus, Herpetocetus transatlanticus, Mizuhoptera fujinensis, Mizuhoptera kanayaensis
Type specimen: UCMP 129450, a partial skeleton (nearly complete skull including both tympanic bullae, both petrosals, a right malleus, a nearly complete left dentary, ten associated vertebrae including the at). Its type locality is Texas Street 1, which is in a Piacenzian offshore shelf horizon in the San Diego Formation of California.
Ecology: aquatic carnivore-suspension feeder
Distribution:
• Pliocene of United States (18: California collections)
Total: 18 collections each including a single occurrence
Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.
Click image to enlarge. Click to access iDigBio record.