Carolinacetus is an extinct protocetid early whale found in the Bartonian (40.4 to 37.2 mya) Tupelo Bay Formation (33°18′N 79°42′W / 33.3°N 79.7°W, paleocoordinates 33°18′N 70°54′W / 33.3°N 70.9°W)[1] in Berkeley County, South Carolina.[2]
| Carolinacetus Temporal range: Middle Eocene,
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Protocetidae |
| Subfamily: | †Georgiacetinae |
| Genus: | †Carolinacetus Geisler, Sanders & Luo 2005 |
| Species | |
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Carolinacetus is known from an incomplete cranium with portions of the right inner ear, a detached rostrum, and parts of both mandibles with 11 teeth. Preserved from the postcranium are 13 vertebrae and 15 ribs. The holotype was collected in 1994.[3]
Several anatomical features identifies Carolinacetus as a protocetid (and therefore as a member of Pelagiceti) including: external nares are located above the canine, the supraoccipital (in cetaceans, the part of the occipital bone located above the foramen magnum and directed backwards) is narrow and tubular, accessory cusps absent on M3, a broad connection between the ectotympanic bulla and the falciform process of the squamosal, axis vertebra with large vertebral foramen.[4]
In Carolinacetus the naral openings are located in front of P1, making it the most basal North American cetacean.[5] Carolinacetus is distinct from other North American cetaceans, it is 8-15% larger than Georgiacetus and differs from it in several cranial characters.[4]
Notes
edit- ^ Martin Marietta Berkeley Quarry, Cross Member (Eocene of the United States) in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved July 2013.
- ^ Carolinacetus in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved July 2013.
- ^ Geisler, Sanders & Luo 2005, Holotype, p. 7
- ^ a b Geisler, Sanders & Luo 2005, Discussion, p. 45
- ^ Geisler, Sanders & Luo 2005, Abstract
References
edit- Bianucci, Giovanni; Gingerich, Philip D. (2011). "Aegyptocetus tarfa, n. gen. et sp. (Mammalia, Cetacea), from the middle Eocene of Egypt: clinorhynchy, olfaction, and hearing in a protocetid whale". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 31 (6): 1173–88. Bibcode:2011JVPal..31.1173B. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.607985. S2CID 85995809.
- Geisler, Jonathan H; Sanders, Albert E; Luo, Zhe-Xi (July 2005). "A new protocetid whale (Cetacea, Archaeoceti) from the late middle Eocene of South Carolina". American Museum Novitates (3480): 1–68. doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2005)480[0001:ANPWCA]2.0.CO;2. hdl:2246/5671. OCLC 4630500767. S2CID 54060094.
- Gingerich, Philip D.; Zalmout, Iyad S.; Ul-Haq, Munir; Bhatti, M. Akram (2005). "Makaracetus bidens, a new protocetid archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the early middle Eocene of Balochistan (Pakistan)" (PDF). Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology. 31 (9): 197–210. OCLC 742723177. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
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