PBDB Taxon

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Pakicetidae

Mammalia - Cetacea - Pakicetidae

Taxonomy

Pakicetinae was named by Thewissen et al. (1996). It was considered paraphyletic by Cooper et al. (2009).

It was reranked as the family Pakicetidae by Thewissen et al. (1996), Thewissen and Hussain (1998), Thewissen et al. (2001), Thewissen et al. (2001), Fordyce and de Muizon (2001), Rice (2002), Fordyce (2003), Geisler and Sanders (2003), van Vliet (2004), Gingerich (2005), Boisserie et al. (2005), Bianucci and Landini (2007), McLeod and Barnes (2008), Cooper et al. (2009), Rice (2009), Uhen (2010), Gingerich (2012), Gao and Ni (2015), Marx et al. (2016) and Berta (2017).

It was assigned to Protocetidae by Gingerich and Russell (1990), Fordyce and Barnes (1994), Fordyce et al. (1995) and McKenna and Bell (1997); to Archaeoceti by Bianucci and Landini (2007); to Protocetoidea by Rice (1998), Gingerich (2005) and Rice (2009); to Cetacea by Thewissen and Hussain (1998), Thewissen et al. (2001), Thewissen et al. (2001), Boisserie et al. (2005), Cooper et al. (2009) and Uhen (2010); to Archaeoceti by Thewissen et al. (1996), Fordyce and de Muizon (2001), Rice (2002), Fordyce (2003), Geisler and Sanders (2003), McLeod and Barnes (2008), Gingerich (2012) and Gao and Ni (2015); and to Cetacea by van Vliet (2004), Marx et al. (2016) and Berta (2017).

Subtaxa

Himalayacetus, Ichthyolestes, Nalacetus, Pakicetus

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1990	Pakicetinae Gingerich and Russell p. 18
1994	Pakicetinae Fordyce and Barnes p. 428 figs. Table 1
1995	Pakicetinae Fordyce et al. p. 379
1996	Pakicetidae Thewissen et al. p. 70
1996	Pakicetinae Thewissen et al. p. 70
1997	Pakicetinae McKenna and Bell p. 370
1998	Pakicetinae Rice
1998	Pakicetidae Thewissen and Hussain p. 221
2001	Pakicetidae Fordyce and de Muizon p. 176
2001	Pakicetidae Thewissen et al. p. suppl.
2002	Pakicetidae Rice p. 231 figs. Table 1
2003	Pakicetidae Fordyce p. 156 figs. Figure 9.1
2003	Pakicetidae Geisler and Sanders p. 27
2004	Pakicetidae van Vliet p. 143
2005	Pakicetidae Boisserie et al.
2005	Pakicetidae Gingerich p. 237 figs. Table 15.1
2007	Pakicetidae Bianucci and Landini p. 45 figs. Table 2.1
2008	Pakicetidae McLeod and Barnes p. 92
2009	Pakicetidae Cooper et al. p. 1291
2009	Pakicetidae Rice p. 235 figs. Table 1
2010	Pakicetidae Uhen p. 199 figs. Figure 1
2012	Pakicetidae Gingerich p. 313 figs. Figure 4
2015	Pakicetidae Gao and Ni p. 156 figs. Table 1
2016	Pakicetidae Marx et al. p. 98
2017	Pakicetidae Berta p. 158

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
subclass	Synapsida
—	Therapsida	()
infraorder	Cynodontia	()

Rank	Name	Author
—	Mammaliamorpha
—	Mammaliaformes
class	Mammalia
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Boreoeutheria
—	Laurasiatheria
—	Scrotifera
—	Euungulata
—	Artiodactylamorpha
—	Artiodactyla	()
—	Whippomorpha
order	Cetacea
family	Pakicetidae	()
family	Pakicetidae	()

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.

Fm. †Pakicetidae Thewissen et al. 1996

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G. †Himalayacetus Bajpai and Gingerich 1998

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†Himalayacetus subathuensis Bajpai and Gingerich 1998

G. †Ichthyolestes Dehm and Oettingen-Spielberg 1958

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†Ichthyolestes pinfoldi Dehm and Oettingen-Spielberg 1958

G. †Nalacetus Thewissen and Hussain 1998

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†Nalacetus ratimitus Thewissen and Hussain 1998

G. †Pakicetus Gingerich and Russell 1981

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†Pakicetus attocki West 1980

†Pakicetus calcis Cooper et al. 2009

†Pakicetus chittas Cooper et al. 2009

†Pakicetus inachus Gingerich and Russell 1981

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
L. N. Cooper et al. 2009	Protocone lobe present on p4; M1 and M2 protocone tip anterior to valley on centrocrista; M1 75-85% labiolingually narrower than M2; p3 closely appressed to p4; p4 and lower molars low triangle-shaped in lateral view; single cusp on talonid.

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubf

Form:

roller-shapedo

Ontogeny:

modification of partssubf

Environment:

freshwater, terrestrialsubf

Locomotion:

actively mobilesubf

Life habit:

amphibioussubf

Depth habitat:

surfacesubf

Diet:

carnivoresubf

Reproduction:

viviparoussubf

Created:

2005-09-09 10:02:09

Modified:

2005-09-09 12:02:09

Source: subf = subfamily, o = order

References: Thewissen et al. 2001, Uhen 2004

Age range: base of the Ypresian to the top of the Lutetian or 56.00000 to 41.30000 Ma

Collections (8 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Ypresian	56.0 - 47.8	India (Jammu and Kashmir)	Ichthyolestes pinfoldi (45588)
Ypresian	56.0 - 47.8	India (Himachal Pradesh)	Himalayacetus subathuensis (45584)
Lutetian	47.8 - 41.3	Pakistan	Ichthyolestes pinfoldi (45587) Nalacetus ratimitus, Pakicetus calcis, Pakicetus chittas (93595)
Lutetian	47.8 - 41.3	Pakistan (Punjab)	Basilosauridae indet. (49002) Pakicetus attocki, Ichthyolestes pinfoldi (45529) Pakicetus inachus, Ichthyolestes pinfoldi, Nalacetus ratimitus, Protocetus attocki (45586)
Lutetian	47.8 - 41.3	Pakistan (North-West Frontier)	Pakicetus inachus, Ichthyolestes pinfoldi (28978)