Liolithax
| Liolithax Temporal range:Middle Miocene,
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Kentriodontidae |
| Subfamily: | †Kentriodontinae |
| Genus: | †Liolithax Kellogg, 1931 |
| Type species | |
| †Liolithax kernensis Kellogg, 1931
| |
Liolithaxis an extinct genus ofdolphinfrom theMiddle Miocene(Serravallian)Temblor Formationof California.
Taxonomy
[edit]Liolithax kernensis,described byRemington Kelloggon the basis of the perioticCAS 4370in 1931,[1]was considered the only species of the genus until Barnes (1978) reassigned"Lophocetus"pappustoLiolithaxbased on similarities between the holotype periotic ofL. kernensisand the periotic ofL. pappus.Liolithaxwas grouped in Kampholophinae withKampholophosby Barnes (1978, 1985).[2][3]
The discovery of a skull from middle Miocene deposits in Baja California, Mexico cast doubt on the congenericity of"Lophocetus" pappuswith theLiolithaxtype species by including a petrosal more similar toL. kernensisthan to the petrosals included in the skulls ofpappus.[4]In a 2008 SVPCA abstract, Lawrence Barnes and colleagues noted that the Baja California skull differed from"Lophocetus" pappusin having a smaller tooth diameter, a more slender rostrum, and smaller size. They classifiedLiolithaxin Kentriodontinae while stressing that"Lophocetus" pappusis a lophocetine in need of a new generic name.[5]The cladistic analysis ofBrujadelphisby Lambert et al. (2017) recovered"Lophocetus" pappus(asLiolithax pappus) as sister toLipotidae,but did not test the phylogenetic relationships ofLiolithax kernensisrelative to Lipotidae, Iniidae, or other kentriodontids.[6]The generic distinctness of"Lophocetus" pappusfrom theLiolithaxtype species was further confirmed by Godfrey and Lambert (2023), who erected the new genusMiminiacetusforL. pappus.[7]
References
[edit]- ^Kellogg, R. 1931. Pelagic mammals from the Temblor formation of the Kern River region, California. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Series 4, 19, 217-397.
- ^L. G. Barnes. 1978. A review of Lophocetus and Liolithax and their relationships to the delphinoid family Kentriodontidae (Cetacea: Odontoceti). Bulletin of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County 28:1-35
- ^L. G. Barnes. 1985. The Late Miocene dolphin Pithanodelphis Abel, 1905 (Cetacea: Kentriodontidae) from California. Contributions in Science 367:1-27.
- ^Flores-Trujillo, J.G., Aranda-Manteca, F.J., & Barnes, L.G. 2000. Identificación del delfín fósil del Mioceno Medio, Liolithax kernensis Kellogg 1931. [The identity of the fossil Middle Miocene dolphin, Liolithax kernensis Kellogg 1931.] Programa y Resúmenes, XXV Reunión Internacional para el Estudio de los Mamíferos Marinos, Sociedad Mexicana de Mastozoología Marina, La Paz, Baja California Sur, México, 7–11 May 2000, p. 4.
- ^http://svpca.org/years/2008_dublin/abstracts.pdf[bare URL PDF]
- ^Olivier Lambert, Giovanni Bianucci, Mario Urbina, Jonathan H. Geisler; A new inioid (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Delphinida) from the Miocene of Peru and the origin of modern dolphin and porpoise families. Zool J Linn Soc 2017; 179 (4): 919-946. doi: 10.1111/zoj.12479.https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/179/4/919/3076080/A-new-inioid-Cetacea-Odontoceti-Delphinida-from?guestAccessKey=3b956b95-d215-488a-8d90-1cff59554290#63703008
- ^Godfrey, S. J., and Lambert, O. (2023). Miocene Toothed Whales (Odontoceti) from Calvert Cliffs, Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. 107: 49–186. doi:10.5479/si.23847438.