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Otekaikea marplesi
Taxonomy
Prosqualodon marplesi was named by Dickson (1964) [Otago Museum]. Its type specimen is OM C.75.27, a partial skull, and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Trig Z, which is in a Waitakian marine siltstone in the Otekaike Limestone Formation of New Zealand.
It was considered an invalid subgroup of Prosqualodon by Fordyce (1991); it was considered an invalid subgroup of Odontoceti by Fordyce (1991); it was recombined as Notocetus marplesi by Fordyce (1994) and Fordyce and Roberts (2009); it was considered an invalid subgroup of Squalodelphinidae by Lambert et al. (2014); it was recombined as Otekaikea marplesi by Tanaka and Fordyce (2014).
It was considered an invalid subgroup of Prosqualodon by Fordyce (1991); it was considered an invalid subgroup of Odontoceti by Fordyce (1991); it was recombined as Notocetus marplesi by Fordyce (1994) and Fordyce and Roberts (2009); it was considered an invalid subgroup of Squalodelphinidae by Lambert et al. (2014); it was recombined as Otekaikea marplesi by Tanaka and Fordyce (2014).
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 1964 | Prosqualodon marplesi Dickson |
| 1973 | Prosqualodon marplesi Keyes p. 389 |
| 1980 | Prosqualodon marplesi Fordyce p. iii figs. Table 2 |
| 1994 | Notocetus marplesi Fordyce p. 172 |
| 2009 | Notocetus marplesi Fordyce and Roberts p. 553 |
| 2014 | Otekaikea marplesi Tanaka and Fordyce figs. FIgs. 2-17 |
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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.
†Otekaikea marplesi Dickson 1964
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| Y. Tanaka and R. E. Fordyce 2014 | Otekaikea marplesi is a heterodont odontocete with: a skull of medium size (bizygomatic width 257 mm, cranial length 197 mm); procumbent apical teeth; pterygoid sinus system restricted to the basicranium, without orbital fossae; a remnant intertemporal constriction with parietals exposed laterally; de- pressed supraoccipital; prominent condyles; robust zygomatic processes; and unfused cervical vertebrae. Otekaikea differs from other archaic Odontoceti including Xenorophidae, Simocetus, Agorophius, Patriocetus, Prosqualodon, Squalodontidae, Waipatia, and Papahu, in the unique combination of apomorphies involving: broad dished face; elevated nodular subrhomboidal nasals and elevated frontals; smooth-surfaced premaxillary sac fossae without prominent premaxillary sulci developed posteriorly; premaxillae strongly bifurcated posteriorly, associated with bilateral posterior accessory foramina and elevated crests on the maxillae; periotic with long slender parallel-sided posterior process, and sharp apex of anterior process. Shares with Waipatia maerewhenua: maxilla and occipital partly separated by parietal; flat dorsal surface of periotic; long posterior process of the periotic; and poorly developed ventromedial keel of the bulla. Shares with Squalodontidae, Prosqualodon, and Platanistoidea: scapula with reduced coracoid process. Differs from Squalodontidae and Prosqualodon in lacking large robust heterodont cheekteeth. Differs from Notocetus, Squalodelphis and Platanistidae in lacking: orbital fossae for extensions of pterygoid sinuses; thickened maxilla or elevated maxillary crest over orbit. Otekaikea marplesi differs from crown odontocetes other than Platanistoidea in lacking: the deep facial fossa, enlarged pterygoid sinus fossae, and enlarged posterior process of the bulla of Physeteridae, Kogiidae, and Ziphiidae; the anterior sinus fossa, an apex of the postglenoid process that is dorsally higher than the post-tympanic process, medially located aperture for the cochlear aqueduct, and strongly developed crest between the infraspinous fossa and teres fossa of Eurhinodelphinidae; and the orbital fossae for extensions of pterygoid sinuses, parabullary ridge of periotic, and saddle-shaped involucrum of the bulla of Delphinida. |