Willungacetus is an extinct genus of primitive baleen whale of the family Aetiocetidae known from the Oligocene of Australia (at Port Willunga, 35°18′S 138°30′E / 35.3°S 138.5°E, paleocoordinates 52°54′S 133°42′E / 52.9°S 133.7°E).[1][2] It is the oldest-known whale from Australia,[3] and the only aetiocetid whale currently known from the Southern Hemisphere.
| Willungacetus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Aetiocetidae (?) |
| Genus: | †Willungacetus Pledge 2005 |
| Species | |
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†W. aldingensis | |
Neville S. Pledge first visited the type locality in 1983 and collected two boulders. These two rocks, however, were forgotten until 2001 when a partial vertebra were discovered within. The site was subsequently revisited and another specimen, a partial cranium, was discovered. Pledge referred a radius, collected from the same cliff in 1994, to his newly named species.[4]
Pledge provisionally assigned Willungacetus to Aetiocetidae, but this assignment still needs to be confirmed.[5]
Sister taxa edit
References edit
Notes edit
- ^ "Willungacetus". Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ "Port Willunga cliffs (Oligocene of Australia)". Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ "South Australia Museum - Objects of Interest". South Australian Museum. Archived from the original on 2 October 2009. Retrieved 3 July 2008.
- ^ Pledge 2005, pp. 123–124
- ^ Deméré & Berta 2008, p. 308
Sources edit
- Deméré, T. A.; Berta, A. (2008). "Skull anatomy of the Oligocene toothed mysticete Aetioceus weltoni (Mammalia; Cetacea): implications for mysticete evolution and functional anatomy" (PDF). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 154 (2): 308–352. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00414.x.
- Pledge, N. S. (2005). "A New Species of Early Oligocene Cetacean from Port Willunga, South Australia". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 51 (1): 123–133. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- "N. S. Pledge 2005". Fossilworks.
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