Mirocetus
| Mirocetus Temporal range:Late Oligocene,
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| Life restoration | |
Scientific classification
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Xenorophidae |
| Genus: | †Mirocetus Mchedlidze, 1970 |
| Species: | †M. riabinini
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| Binomial name | |
| †Mirocetus riabinini Mchedlidze, 1970
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Mirocetusis a genus of archaic odontocete from the late Oligocene (Chattian) of Azerbaijan. Like many other primitive odontocetes, its classification has been fluid since its description.
Classification
[edit]Mirocetus riabininiis based on a skull from late Oligocene (Chattian) deposits in Azerbaijan. Although originally assigned toPatriocetidaein the original description, it was later assigned to the mysticete familyAetiocetidaeby Mchedlidze (1976). Fordyce (1981, 2002) treatedMirocetusas Odontoceti incertae sedis in recognition of its primitiveness, and a 2015 paper by Albert Sanders and Jonathan Geisler recognized the genus as sufficiently distinct from other basal odontocete families to warrant its own family, Mirocetidae. However, a cladistic analysis ofOlympicetusby Velez-Juarbe (2017) recoversMirocetusas a member ofXenorophidae,rendering Mirocetidae a synonym of Xenorophidae.[1][2][3][4]
References
[edit]- ^G. A. Mchedlidze. 1970.Nekotorye obschie cherty istorii kitoobraznykh.Chast I 1-111
- ^G. A. Mchedlidze. 1976.Osnovnye Cherty Paleobiologischeskoi Istorii Kitoobraznykh.
- ^Sanders, Albert E.; Geisler, Jonathan H. (2015). "A new basal odontocete from the upper Rupelian of South Carolina, U.S.A., with contributions to the systematics ofXenorophusandMirocetus(Mammalia, Cetacea) ".Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.35(1): e890107.doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.890107.
- ^Vélez-Juarbe, Jorge (2017). "A new stem odontocete from the late Oligocene Pysht Formation in Washington State, U.S.A.".Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.37(5): e1366916.doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1366916.