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Dorudon

Mammalia - Cetacea - Basilosauridae

Taxonomy
Dorudon was named by Gibbes (1845). Its type is Dorudon serratus. It is the type genus of Dorudontinae. It was considered monophyletic by Uhen (2008) and Martinez-Cáceres and Muizon (2011).

It was synonymized subjectively with Basilosaurus by Gibbes (1847), Bronn (1853) and Gill (1872); it was synonymized subjectively with Zeuglodon by Pictet (1853), Zittel (1894), Trouessart (1898) and Zittel (1925); it was corrected as Doryodon by Cope (1867).

It was assigned to Zeuglodontidae by Stromer (1908); to Dorudontidae by Kellogg (1928), Hay (1930), Kellogg (1936) and Simpson (1945); to Prozeuglodontidae by Moustafa (1954); to Cetacea by Sepkoski (2002); to Cetaceamorpha by Spaulding et al. (2009); to Dorudontinae by Uhen (1996), McKenna and Bell (1997), Uhen (1998), Uhen (2002), van Vliet (2004), Uhen (2004), Bouetel and Muizon (2006), McLeod and Barnes (2008), Uhen (2008), Uhen (2009), Fordyce and Roberts (2009), Schouten (2011), Gao and Ni (2015) and Mahdy et al. (2019); and to Basilosauridae by Cope (1867), Hay (1902), Trouessart (1904), Palmer (1904), Carroll (1988), Benton (1993), Geisler and Sanders (2003), Clementz et al. (2006), Fitzgerald (2010), Martinez-Cáceres and Muizon (2011), Gingerich (2012), Uhen (2013), Cioppi (2014), Gingerich and Cappetta (2014), Boessenecker and Fordyce (2015), Marx et al. (2016), Martínez-Cáceres et al. (2017), Berta (2017), Uhen (2018), Zalmout et al. (2020) and van Vliet et al. (2020).

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1845Dorudon Gibbes p. 255 figs. Plate 1
1867Doryodon Cope p. 144
1902Dorudon Hay p. 587
1904Dorudon Palmer p. 237
1904Dorudon Trouessart p. 754
1906Prozeuglodon Andrews p. 243
1908Dorudon Stromer p. 148
1914Prozeuglodon Abel p. 220
1919Prozeuglodon Abel p. 751
1921Prozeuglodon Winge p. 7
1928Dorudon Kellogg p. 32 figs. Table 1
1928Prozeuglodon Kellogg p. 32 figs. Table 1
1930Dorudon Hay p. 568
1936Prozeuglodon Kellogg p. 75
1936Dorudon Kellogg p. 177
1936Prozeuglodon Slijper p. 540
1945Dorudon Simpson p. 100
1945Prozeuglodon Simpson p. 100
1954Dorudon Moustafa p. 87
1954Prozeuglodon Moustafa p. 87
1970Prozeuglodon Mchedlidze p. 50
1988Dorudon Carroll
1988Prozeuglodon Carroll
1992Prozeuglodon Gingerich pp. 72-73
1993Dorudon Benton p. 761
1993Prozeuglodon Benton p. 761
1996Dorudon Uhen p. 46
1997Dorudon McKenna and Bell p. 369
1998Dorudon Uhen p. 35
2002Dorudon Sepkoski
2002Prozeuglodon Sepkoski
2002Dorudon Uhen p. 79
2003Dorudon Geisler and Sanders p. 27
2004Dorudon Uhen p. 13
2004Dorudon van Vliet p. 143
2006Dorudon Bouetel and Muizon p. 383
2006Dorudon Clementz et al. p. 359
2008Dorudon McLeod and Barnes p. 93
2008Dorudon Uhen p. 562
2009Dorudon Fordyce and Roberts p. 553
2009Dorudon Spaulding et al. p. 4
2009Dorudon Uhen p. 93
2010Dorudon Fitzgerald p. 370 figs. Table 1
2011Dorudon Martinez-Cáceres and Muizon
2011Dorudon Schouten p. 18
2012Dorudon Gingerich p. 313 figs. Figure 4
2013Dorudon Uhen p. 10 figs. Figure 7
2014Dorudon Cioppi p. 86
2014Dorudon Gingerich and Cappetta p. 128 figs. Figure 16
2015Dorudon Boessenecker and Fordyce figs. Table 1
2015Dorudon Gao and Ni p. 156 figs. Table 1
2016Dorudon Marx et al. p. 101
2017Dorudon Berta p. 159
2017Dorudon Martínez-Cáceres et al. p. 11
2018Dorudon Uhen
2019Dorudon Mahdy et al.
2020Dorudon Zalmout et al. p. 128
2020Dorudon van Vliet et al. p. 131

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
—Bilateria
—EubilateriaAx 1987
—Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
—Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
—Tetrapoda
—Reptiliomorpha
—Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
—Cotylosauria()
—Amniota
subclassSynapsida
—Therapsida()
infraorderCynodontia()
—Mammaliamorpha
—Mammaliaformes
RankNameAuthor
classMammalia
—Theriamorpha(Rowe 1993)
—Theriiformes()
—Trechnotheria
—Cladotheria
—Zatheria
subclassTribosphenida()
subclassTheria
—Eutheria()
—Placentalia
—Boreoeutheria
—Laurasiatheria
—Scrotifera
—Euungulata
—Artiodactylamorpha
—Artiodactyla()
—Whippomorpha
orderCetacea
—Pelagiceti
familyBasilosauridae
genusDorudon

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. †Dorudon Gibbes 1845
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†Dorudon atrox Andrews 1906
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Invalid names: Dorudon intermedius Dart 1923 [synonym], Dorudon stromeri Kellogg 1928 [synonym]
†Dorudon serratus Gibbes 1845
Invalid names: Prozeuglodon Andrews 1906 [synonym]
Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
M. D. Uhen 2004Members of the genus Dorudon can be distinguished from other archaeocetes based on overall size, and other morphological characteristics. Members of the genus Dorudon are considerably larger than Saghacetus , and much smaller than members of the genus Pontogeneus. Saghacetus lacks the long narial process of the frontals which is characteristic of the genus Dorudon. Members of the genus Dorudon can be distinguished from the members of the genus Zygorhiza based on the lingual cingula on P2-3. While members of both genera have cingula on the mesial and distal ends of P2-3, those of Zygorhiza are much better developed and highly ornamented. Zygorhiza is slightly smaller than Dorudon atrox and has slightly more gracile forelimbs. Zygorhiza has a large narial process of the frontals like Dorudon atrox, but the medial maxillae of Zygorhiza touch both the nasals and the frontals. The posterior medial maxillae of members of the genus Dorudon contact only the nasals.
M. D. Uhen 2008Dorudon is much smaller than both Basilosaurus and Cynthiacetus. Dorudon also lacks the elongate trunk vertebrae of Basilosaurus. Dorudon can be distinguished from Zygorhiza by the lack of tiny denticles on the cingula of the upper premolars (Köhler and Fordyce, 1997). The premolars of Dorudon have relatively lower crowns than those of Chrysocetus.
M. D. Uhen 2013Members of the genus Dorudon are consid- erably larger than Saghacetus and Chrysocetus, and much smaller than members of the genera Basilosaurus or Cyn- thiacetus. Members of the genus Dorudon can be distin- guished from members of the genus Zygorhiza based on the lingual cingula on P2-3. While members of both gen- era have cingula on the mesial and distal ends of P2-3, those of Zygorhiza are much better developed and more highly ornamented. Dorudon is slightly larger and all com- parable skeletal elements are more robust than those in Zygorhiza.
Measurements
No measurements are available
Composition: hydroxyapatiteg
Form: roller-shapedg
Ontogeny: modification of partso
Environment: marineg
Locomotion: actively mobileg
Life habit: aquaticg
Depth habitat: surfaceo
Diet: carnivoreg
Reproduction: viviparousg
Created: 2005-03-06 14:09:01
Modified: 2005-03-06 16:35:14
Source: g = genus, o = order
Reference: Uhen 2004

Age range: base of the Bartonian to the top of the Late/Upper Eocene or 41.30000 to 33.90000 Ma

Collections (60 total)


Time interval Ma Country or state Original ID and collection number
Bartonian41.3 - 38.0USA (Mississippi) Zygorhiza kochii (45625)
Bartonian - Priabonian41.3 - 33.9Egypt D. atrox (124995 124996 124997 124998 125003 125014)
Priabonian38.0 - 33.9Egypt D. atrox (13102 79676 79680 79682 96952 124990 124992 124993 124994 124999 125000 125001 125002 125004 125005 125006 125008 125010 125013 125015 125016 125017 125019 125020 125021 125022 125023 125025 125026 125028 198761)
Priabonian38.0 - 33.9USA (Georgia) Zygorhiza kochii (27508 45640 60451)
Priabonian38.0 - 33.9Italy (Parma) D. sp. (32992)
Priabonian38.0 - 33.9Western Sahara D. atrox (159106 159112 159113 159114 159115) D. sp. (96686 96688 159111)
Priabonian38.0 - 33.9USA (South Carolina) D. serratus (13405)
Priabonian38.0 - 33.9Jordan D. atrox (32899)
Priabonian38.0 - 33.9Egypt (Fayum) D. atrox (13402 13403 124991) Prozeuglodon atrox, Zeuglodon intermedius (83938) Prozeuglodon sp. (13103) Prozeuglodon stromeri (74740) Zeuglodon sp. (74739)
Late/Upper Eocene37.2 - 33.9New Zealand (Canterbury) Dorudontinae indet. (45041)