Gaviacetus
Name:
Gaviacetus
(Loon whale).
Phonetic: Gah-ve-ah-see-tus.
Named By: P. D. Gingerich, M. Arif
& W. C. Clyde - 1995.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia, Cetacea,
Archaeoceti, Protocetidae.
Species: G. razai (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Uncertain.
Known locations: Pakistan - Domanda Formation.
Time period: Lutetian of the Eocene.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and post
cranial skeletal remains including vertebrae and ribs.
Gaviacetus is usually interpreted as a protocetid, a very primitive kind of whale that would have still possessed legs for terrestrial locomotion, though in the past Gaviacetus has also been considered to be a possible basilosaurid. However, at the time of writing there is little evidence to conclusively prove that Gaviacetus was a basilosaurid. There was once another species of Gaviacetus called G. sahnii, but this has since been re-named as a new genus, Kharodacetus.
Further reading
- New archaeocetes (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Middle Eocene
Domanda Formation of the Sulaiman Range, Punjab (Pakistan). -
Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of
Michigan 29(11):291-330. - P. D. Gingerich, M. Arif
& W. C. Clyde - 1995.
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