In Depth
When Mauicetus was first named it was originally as Lophocephalus. However this name had already been used to name a genus of beetle. Under international rules governing the naming of animals, the first use has priority, so the fossils of this whale were renamed Mauicetus. Mauicetus lived in the waters around the Pacific during the Oligocene. A former species, M. waitakiensis, has now been re-assigned to Tohoraata, while another species, M. lophocephalus, has been moved to Tokarahia.
Further Reading
- On Lophocephalus, a new genus of zeuglodont Cetacea. - Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 67(1):1-7. - W. B. Benham - 1937. - Mauicetus: a Fossil Whale. - Nature 143(3627):765. - W. B. Benham - 1939. - A new eomysticetid (Mammalia: Cetacea) from the Late Oligocene of New Zealand and re-evaluation of ‘Mauicetus’ waitakiensis. - R. W. Boessenecker & R. E. Fordyce - 2014. - A new genus and species of eomysticetid (Cetacea: Mysticeti) and a reinterpretation of ‘Mauicetus’ lophocephalus Marples, 1956: Transitional baleen whales from the upper Oligocene of New Zealand. - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. - R. W. Boessenecker & R. Ewan Fordyce - 2015.
