Mammalia - Cetacea - Ziphiidae
Full reference: G. Bianucci, W. Landini, and A. Varola. 1992. Messapicetus longirostris, a new genus and species of Ziphiidae (Cetacea) from the late Miocene of "Pietra leccese" (Apulia, Italy). Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana 31(2):261-264
Belongs to Messapicetus according to B. Ramassamy 2016
See also Bianucci et al. 2016, Bianucci et al. 1992, Bianucci et al. 1994, Bianucci and Landini 2002 and Bianucci et al. 2019
Sister taxon: Messapicetus gregarius
Type specimen: MGNS, no number, a partial skull (skull lacking the auditory bones, teeth and mandibles). Its type locality is Cisterna Quarry, which is in a Tortonian transition zone/lower shoreface lime mudstone in the Pietra Leccese Formation of Italy.
Ecology: aquatic piscivore-carnivore
Distribution:
• Miocene of Italy (2 collections), Spain (1), United States (1: Maryland)
Total: 4 collections including 5 occurrences
Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.
Click image to enlarge. Click to access iDigBio record.