In Depth With the type species originally described as a species of Prosqualodon, Otekaikea became a recognised genus of toothed whale in 2015. Otekaikea is considered to be very similar to the genus Waipatia. Further Reading - Fossil dolphin Otekaikea marplesi (Latest Oligocene, New Zealand) expands the morphological and taxonomic diversity of Oligocene cetaceans. - … Read more
In Depth Although the name Prosqualodon references a shark, this creature was actually one of the first members of the Odontoceti, better known as the modern toothed whales. Prosqualodon actually looked like a cross between a modern dolphin and an ichthyosaur from the Mesozoic. Prosqualodon has the typical cetacean body with a horizontally aligned tail … Read more
In Depth Though only based upon the description of a single skull, Waipatia has still been one of the more significant discoveries regarding our understanding of the early evolution of dolphins. This is because the skull of Waipatia represents one of the first good examples of actual bones and not just teeth. This has also … Read more
In Depth Orycterocetus was one of the many predatory whales that swam in the Miocene oceans with included Acrophyseter, Livyatan and Zygophyseter among others. Orycterocetus also has a connection with the whale Aulophyseter on the basis that some of the fossil material attributed to Aulophyseter bears similarities to fossil material from Orycterocetus. This has brought … Read more
In Depth Although only known from teeth, these have confirmed that Kogiopsis is an extinct sperm whale. The teeth of Kogiopsis had crowns that were between three and five centimetres long, and may have been used against other marine mammals such as smaller whales. The teeth of Kogiopsis are often available to buy through fossil … Read more
In Depth Platalearostrum is an extinct genus of dolphin that lived in the waters of what is now the North Sea. The first fossils of Platalearostrum were dredged up by a fishing trawler, and they show us that Platalearostrum probably had a balloon shaped head. Further Reading - A new dolphin (Cetacea, Delphinidae) from the … Read more
In Depth Chilcacetus is a genus of toothed whale that lived in the waters around South America during the Miocene. Further Reading - A new archaic homodont toothed cetacean (Mammalia, Cetacea, Odontoceti) from the early Miocene of Peru. - Geodiversitas 37(1):79-108. - O. Lambert, C. de Muizon & G. Bianucci - 2015.
In Depth Sometimes confused with the similarly named ichthyosaur Eurhinosaurus, Eurhinodelphis was a Miocene era cetacean that resembled a long snouted dolphin. Another similarity to dolphins is the asymmetrical brain which means one side was different than the other. Additionally Eurhinodelphis had extremely well developed hearing and is considered to have possibly hunted by echolocation. … Read more
In Depth Agorophius seems to have been one of the early toothed whales of the Odontoceti, but unfortunately the holotype remains of this genus have now been lost. This makes further study of the genus with more modern methods and techniques impossible until either the holotypes are found or new fossils are recovered from the … Read more
In Depth Aulophyseter was a predatory whale similar to a modern day sperm whale, although it probably had a more diverse diet. Aulophyseter was related to other predatory whales such as Acrophyseter and the large Livyatan. Some Aulophyseter however bear a resemblance to another whale called Orycterocetus raising the possibility that these fossils could be … Read more