Eudelphis | |
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Scientific classification![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Infraorder: | Cetacea |
Genus: | †Eudelphis Du Bus, 1872 |
Species: | †E. mortezelensis |
Binomial name | |
†Eudelphis mortezelensis Du Bus, 1872 |
Eudelphis is an extinct genus ofsperm whale belonging toPhyseteroidea that lived in the ancientNorth Sea basin about 16-11 million years ago, during the middle Miocene (Langhian).
The holotype ofEudelphis is known from the Langhian-ageBerchem Formation of the vicinity of Antwerp, Belgium.[1]
Eudelphis was once considered a synonym of the genusScaldicetus, but that genus is now considered of doubtful validity due to the questionably diagnostic value of the holotype tooth, and Lambert (2008) revalidatedEudelphis, classifying it as a basal physeteroid.[2][3][4][5]