Himalayacetus
Name:
Himalayacetus
(Himalaya whale).
Phonetic: Him-ah-lay-ah-see-tus.
Named By: S. Bajpai & P. D.
Gingerich - 1998.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia, Cetacea,
Archaeoceti, Ambulocetidae.
Species: H. subathuensis
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Uncertain due to lack of fossil remains.
Known locations: India - Subathu Formation.
Time period: Ypresian of the Eocene.
Fossil representation: Partial jaw.
Himalayacetus
is one of if not the oldest archaeocetid whale
currently known to us.
Unfortunately at the time of writing the only part of this primitive
whale that we have is a partial jaw, but this is still enough to
identify Himalayacetus as a relative of the better
known Ambulocetus.
Himalayacetus
should not be confused with Himalayasaurus,
a
large ichthyosaur
that
lived hundreds of millions of years earlier in the Triassic period.
Further reading
- A new Eocene archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from India and
the time of origin of whales. - Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences 95:15464-15468. - S. Bajpai & P. D.
Gingerich - 1998.
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