Bartoncetus
| Bartoncetus Temporal range: Late Eocene | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Placentalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Basilosauridae |
| Genus: | †Bartoncetus Van Vliet et al., 2026 |
| Type species | |
| B. wanklyni (Seeley, 1876) | |
Bartoncetus is a genus of extinct archaeocete ceteceans belonging to the Basilosauridae that is known from the Late Eocene of Europe.
Taxonomy
[edit]In 1876, Harry Seeley described a skull found in the Wanklyn's Barton Cliff in the United Kingdom as a new species of Zeuglodon, Z. wanklyni.[1] This specimen, however, went missing after its description, but Z. wanklyni was referred to as Zygorhiza wanklyni by Kellogg (1936) or to as a nomen dubium.[2] In 2022, Gingerich and colleagues suggested that the lost skull possibly belongs to Pachycetus.[3] van Vliet et al. (2026) redescribed the taxon as a new genus of dorudontine basilosaurid, Bartoncetus, based on a postcranial specimen and Seeley's description of the holotype skull.[4]
References
[edit]- ↑ Seeley, H.G. (1876). "Notice of the occurrence of remains of a British fossil Zeuglodon (Z. wanklyni, Seeley) in the Barton Clay of the Hampshire Coast". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. 32 (1–4): 428–432. doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1876.032.01-04.47.
- ↑ Uhen, M.D. (1998). "Middle to Late Eocene Basilosaurines and Dorudontines". In Thewissen, J.G.M. (ed.). The Emergence of Whales. Advances in Vertebrate Paleobiology. Vol. 1. pp. 29–61. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-0159-0_2. ISBN 978-1-4899-0161-3.
- ↑ Gingerich, P.D.; Amane, A.; Zouhri, S. (2022). "Skull and partial skeleton of a new pachycetine genus (Cetacea, Basilosauridae) from the Aridal Formation, Bartonian middle Eocene, of southwestern Morocco". PLOS ONE. 17 (10) e0276110. Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1776110G. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0276110. PMC 9604876. PMID 36288346.
- ↑ van Vliet, H.J.; Hakkens, J.; Paijmans, T.M.; Underwood, C.J.; Verheijen, I.; Bosselaers, M.E.J.; Ward, D.J.; Munsterman, D.K.; Reumer, J.W.F. (2026). "Bartoncetus wanklyni, new genus of a small dorudontine whale from the Bartonian of England; a lost skull and a forgotten postcranial skeleton". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 137 (4) 101201. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2026.101201.