Coronodon
Name: Coronodon
(Corona/Crown tooth).
Phonetic: Co-ro-na-don.
Named By: J. H. Geisler, R. W.
Boessenecker, M. Brown & B. L. Beatty - 2017.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia, Cetacea,
Mysticeti.
Species: C. havensteini
(type).
Diet: Uncertain, refer to main text.
Size: Uncertain but possibly up to five metes long.
Known locations: USA - South Carolina -
Ashley Formation.
Time period: Oligocene.
Fossil representation: Skull and jaws.
At
the time of the genus description Coronodon caused
a lot of
excitement, as this genus represent one of the oldest baleen whales
in the fossil record. Baleen whales, also known as mystecetids,
certainly had ancestors that were active predators of other sea
creatures. The teeth of Coronodon are shaped in
such a way that they
could slice through the flesh of large prey, but possibly also trap
smaller organisms like krill. This is because the teeth of Coronodon
are not straight cutting blades, but have cusps that look like
smaller teeth studded along the edge of one large single tooth
This
appearance gives rise to the name Coronodon which
means ‘crown
tooth’, ‘corona’ being the Latin work for ‘crown’.
Coronodon is not the only prehistoric whale to have
teeth that look
like this, but the appearance of Coronodon
fossils in Oligocene
aged deposits, suggests that Coronodon may have
been amongst the
first of its kind to adapt them. Later whales would take the
development further and become exclusive filter feeders.
Further reading
- The Origin of Filter
Feeding in Whales. - Current Biology 27:1-7. - J. H.
Geisler, R. W. Boessenecker, M. Brown & B. L.
Beatty - 2017
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random favourites
 |
 |
|