Cynthiacetus is an extinct genus of basilosaurid early whale that lived during the Late Eocene (Bartonian-Priabonian, 40.4 to 33.9 million years ago.)[1] Specimens have been found in the southeastern United States and Peru (Otuma Formation).[2]

Cynthiacetus
Temporal range: Late Eocene
~40.4–33.9 Ma
Skeleton at the MNHN, Paris
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Basilosauridae
Subfamily: Dorudontinae
Genus: Cynthiacetus
Uhen 2005
Species

Discovery and naming edit

 
Skull of C. peruvianus at the MNHN, Paris

Cynthiacetus was named after the town of Cynthia, Mississippi, close to where the type specimen for the species C. maxwelli was discovered.

Description edit

 
Life restoration

The skull of C. maxwelli was similar in size and morphology to that of Basilosaurus cetoides, but Cynthiacetus lacked the elongated vertebrae of Basilosaurus. Uhen 2005 erected the genus to avoid the nomen dubium Pontogeneus (which was based on poorly described and now vanished specimens).[3]Cynthiacetus was smaller than Masracetus.[4]

The South American species C. peruvianus, the first archaeocete to be described on that continent, mainly differs from C. maxwelli in the number of cuspids in the lower premolars, but it also has the greatest numbers of thoracic vertebrae (20).[2] The type specimen of C. peruvianus belonged to an adult individual measuring 9 m (30 ft) long.[5]

References edit

  1. ^ Cynthiacetus maxwelli in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved July 2013.
  2. ^ a b Martínez-Cáceres & de Muizon 2011, Abstract
  3. ^ Uhen 2008, p. 93
  4. ^ Gingerich 2007, p. 375
  5. ^ Martínez-Cáceres, M.; Lambert, O.; De Muizon, C. (2017). "The anatomy and phylogenetic affinities of Cynthiacetus peruvianus, a large Dorudon-like basilosaurid (Cetacea, Mammalia) from the late Eocene of Peru" (PDF). Geodiversitas, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle Paris. 39 (1): 7–163. doi:10.5252/g2017n1a1. S2CID 90142285.

Bibliography edit