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Thalassocetus
Taxonomy
Thalassocetus was named by Abel (1905) [Sepkoski's age data: T Mi-u].
It was considered a nomen dubium by Fordyce and de Muizon (2001); it was considered a nomen dubium by Uhen and Pyenson (2007).
It was assigned to Physeterinae by Zittel (1925), Simpson (1945), McKenna and Bell (1997); to Cetacea by Sepkoski (2002); to Kogiidae by Bianucci and Landini (2006), Lambert (2008), Velez-Juarbe et al. (2015), Marx et al. (2016), Collareta et al. (2017); and to Physeteridae by Abel (1905), Kellogg (1928), Carroll (1988), Kazár (2002), Berta (2017), Alfsen et al. (2021).
It was considered a nomen dubium by Fordyce and de Muizon (2001); it was considered a nomen dubium by Uhen and Pyenson (2007).
It was assigned to Physeterinae by Zittel (1925), Simpson (1945), McKenna and Bell (1997); to Cetacea by Sepkoski (2002); to Kogiidae by Bianucci and Landini (2006), Lambert (2008), Velez-Juarbe et al. (2015), Marx et al. (2016), Collareta et al. (2017); and to Physeteridae by Abel (1905), Kellogg (1928), Carroll (1988), Kazár (2002), Berta (2017), Alfsen et al. (2021).
Species
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 1905 | Thalassocetus Abel p. 70 figs. Fig. 7 |
| 1925 | Thalassocetus Zittel p. 86 |
| 1928 | Thalassocetus Kellogg p. 34 figs. Table 1 |
| 1945 | Thalassocetus Simpson p. 102 |
| 1988 | Thalassocetus Carroll |
| 1997 | Thalassocetus McKenna and Bell p. 380 |
| 2002 | Thalassocetus Kazár p. 163 |
| 2002 | Thalassocetus Sepkoski |
| 2006 | Thalassocetus Bianucci and Landini p. 125 |
| 2008 | Thalassocetus Lambert p. 303 |
| 2015 | Thalassocetus Velez-Juarbe et al. p. 15 figs. Fig. 10 |
| 2016 | Thalassocetus Marx et al. p. 123 |
| 2017 | Thalassocetus Berta p. 161 |
| 2017 | Thalassocetus Collareta et al. p. 269 figs. Figure 6 |
| 2021 | Thalassocetus Alfsen et al. p. 809 |
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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.
Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| A. Alfsen et al. 2021 | This small size physeterid (postorbital width lower than 300 mm in the juvenile to subadult lectotype, within the range of adults of Kogia spp.) can be distinguished from all other physeteroids (stem physeteroids, physeterids, and kogiids) by the following unique combination of cranial morphological features: antorbital notch being located outside the proportionally narrow supracranial basin (differing from most kogiids); at least one right dorsal infraorbital foramen being located inside the supracranial basin; retention of the left nasal along the left posterolateral wall of the supracranial basin (differing from kogiids for which the postnarial region is known); left nasal being posteriorly pointed, with the apex nearly reaching the nuchal crest and being close to the sagittal plane of the cranium (differing, among others, from Orycterocetus crocodili- nus Cope, 1868); absence of a sagittal facial crest in the supracranial basin (differing from most kogiids); abrupt dorsal elevation of the posterior part of the maxilla towards the nuchal crest; short, trian- gular zygomatic process of the squamosal (ratio between distance from anterior tip of zygomatic process to exoccipital and postorbital width lower than 0.25); nodular, somewhat anteroposteriorly thick- ened postglenoid process of the squamosal; anteroposteriorly short posttympanic process of the squamosal, lacking a broad notch for the posterior process of the tympanic (differing from most kogiids); and anterodorsal portion of the surface of the occipital shield being dorsoventrally concave and transversely convex. |
Measurements
No measurements are available
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| Source: f = family, subo = suborder, o = order | |||||
| References: Uhen 2004, Nowak 1991 | |||||
Age range: base of the Serravallian to the top of the Tortonian or 13.82000 to 7.24600 Ma
Collections (4 total)
| Time interval | Ma | Country or state | Original ID and collection number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serravallian | Netherlands | T. sp. (75152) | |
| Tortonian | Belgium | T. sp. (217346 222688) | |
| Late/Upper Miocene - Late/Upper Pliocene | Belgium (Antwerpen) | T. antwerpiensis (47465) |