Macrodelphinus Explained

Macrodelphinus is an extinct genus of primitive odontocete known from Early Miocene marine deposits in California.

Biology

Macrodelphinus was an orca-sized odontocete similar to members of Eurhinodelphinidae in having a swordfish-like rostrum and upper jaw. Because of its size, and inch-long teeth, it is believed to have been an apex predator.

Classification

Macrodelphinus is known from a fragmentary skull from the Early Miocene Jewett Sand Formation of Kern County, southern California.^[1] Although often classified as a member of Eurhinodelphinidae, the cladistic analysis of Chilcacetus recovers it outside Eurhinodelphinidae, less advanced than Eoplatanista.^[2] The Miocene species "Champsodelphis" valenciennesii Brandt, 1873, based on a rostrum fragment from marine sediments in Landes, France, was assigned to Macrodelphinus by Kellogg (1944).^[3]

Notes and References

1. L. E. Wilson. 1935. Miocene marine mammals from the Bakersfield region, California. The Peabody Museum of Natural History Bulletin 4:1-143.
2. O. Lambert, C. de Muizon, and G. Bianucci. 2015. A new archaic homodont toothed cetacean (Mammalia, Cetacea, Odontoceti) from the early Miocene of Peru. Geodiversitas 37(1):79-108
3. R. Kellogg. 1944. Fossil Cetaceans from the Florida Tertiary. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College XCIV(9):433-471.