Chilcacetus | |
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Skull | |
Scientific classification![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Infraorder: | Cetacea |
Genus: | †Chilcacetus Lambert et al. 2015 |
Species: | †C. cavirhinus |
Binomial name | |
†Chilcacetus cavirhinus Lambert et al. 2015 |
Chilcacetus is an extinct genus of primitive odontocete known from Early Miocene (Aquitanian) of Peru. Fossils were found in and named after theChilcatay Formation of thePisco Basin.[1]
Chilcacetus is recovered along it with the putative eurhinodelphinidsArgyrocetus andMacrodelphinus in a clade basal toEoplatanista andEurhinodelphinidae. The authors stressed that updated osteological descriptions ofArgyrocetus andMacrodelphinus are necessary to provide more cladistic analysis support for this grouping.[2]
The teeth ofChilcacetus are homodont in nature, and the rostrum is long. The presence of a cavity between nasals and mesethmoid on the posterior wall of the bony nares that distinguishes this taxon from other archaic odontocetes, hence the species namecavirhinus. The dorsal surface of the nasal rising anterodorsally, extended edentulous anterior premaxillary portion of the rostrum, and a cranium distinctly shorter than wide uniteChilcacetus withArgyrocetus andMacrodelphinus to the exclusion of all other homodont odontocetes, including eurhinodelphinids.[2]