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Furcacetus
Taxonomy
Furcacetus was named by Bianucci et al. (2020). Its type is Furcacetus flexirostrum.
It was assigned to Squalodelphinidae by Bianucci et al. (2020).
It was assigned to Squalodelphinidae by Bianucci et al. (2020).
Species
F. flexirostrum (type species)
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Furcacetus Bianucci et al. p. 24 figs. Figures 11-13, Table 3 |
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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.
G. †Furcacetus Bianucci et al. 2020
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†Furcacetus flexirostrum Bianucci et al. 2020
Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| G. Bianucci et al. 2020 | Furcacetus is a small odontocete having an asymmetrical cranium with a narrow and moderately elongated rostrum (about 68% of the CBL), bearing about 25 single-rooted teeth in each upper quadrant. Its rostrum differs from that of all other Platanistoidea s.s., as defined above, in having a sigmoid shape in lateral view and bearing procumbent anterior teeth. Furcacetus shares with the other platanistoids the elongated hamular fossa of the pterygoid sinus extending anteriorly on the palatal surface of the rostrum and the neurocranium being shorter than wide (ratio < 0.90). Furcacetus belongs to the Platanidelphidi clade in having: asymmetry of the premaxillae on the rostrum at some distance anterior to the premaxillary foramina (ca 18 cm in this case), with the right premaxilla distinctly narrower than the left in dorsal view; posterior dorsal infraorbital foramen along the vertex more medial than the lateralmost margin of the premaxilla on the cranium; deep fossa in the frontal on orbit roof, at the level of the frontal groove; vertex distinctly shifted to the left compared to the sagittal plane of the skull; and thick zygomatic process of the squamosal (ratio between the maximum distance from the anteroventral margin of the zygomatic process to the posterodorsal margin, in lateral view, and the vertical distance from the lower margin of the occipital condyles to the vertex of the skull > 0.35). Furcacetus is referred to the Squalodelphinidae in having: pars cochlearis of the periotic square-shaped in ventral view; and longitudinal axis of the neurocranium forming an angle of about 5° with the main axis of the rostrum in dorsal view, generating asymmetry in the posterior portion of the rostrum.
It differs from all other squalodelphinids in having a greater asymmetry of the ascending processes of the premaxillae, the left process being significantly wider and more posteriorly extended than the right; and in having about 25 teeth for upper quadrant, a tooth count that is greater than in Notocetus (22–23) and Squalodelphis (15), and lower than in Dilophodelphis (ca 35) and Huaridelphis (28–30) (exact tooth count unknown in Macrosqualodelphis, Medocinia, and Phocageneus). It shares with Macrosqualodelphis and Notocetus the anteroposteriorly elongated temporal fossa (ratio between horizontal width and vertical height = 1.42) and the correspondingly elongated zygomatic process of the squamosal. It shares with Dilophodelphis and Huaridelphis a deep, V-shaped right antorbital notch drawing an angle of about 60°. It shares with Notocetus the transverse widening of the premaxillae in the anterior portion of the rostrum. It shares with Dilophodelphis and Medocinia a marked dorsoventral thickening of the preorbital process of the frontal. It differs from Medocinia, and Squalodelphis in the narrower transverse opening of the mesorostral groove near the rostrum base and in the lesser transverse widening of the premaxilla at rostrum base. |
Measurements
No measurements are available
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| Source: subo = suborder, o = order | |||||
| Reference: Uhen 2004 | |||||
Age range: Burdigalian or 20.45000 to 15.98000 Ma
Collections: one only
| Time interval | Ma | Country or state | Original ID and collection number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burdigalian | Peru (Ica) | F. flexirostrum (208185) |