Cynthiacetus
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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]
Discovery and naming
Cynthiacetus was named after the town of Cynthia, Mississippi, close to where the type specimen for the species C. maxwelli was discovered.
Description
The skull of C. maxwelli was similar in size and morphology to that of Basilosaurus cetoides, but Cynthiacetus lacked the elongated vertebrae of Basilosaurus. Script error: No such module "Footnotes". 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 around Template:Cvt long and weighing up to Script error: No such module "convert"..[5][6]
References
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Bibliography
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- Basilosauridae
- Prehistoric cetacean genera
- Eocene mammals of North America
- Paleogene United States
- Fossils of Georgia (U.S. state)
- Paleontology in Mississippi
- Fossils of North Carolina
- Eocene mammals of South America
- Tinguirirican
- Paleogene Peru
- Fossils of Peru
- Fossil taxa described in 2005