It's type and only species is Flandriacetus gijseni.
Discovery and naming
The known specimens of Flandriacetus consist of 13 skeletons discovered in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019 from the Western Scheldt estuary of the Netherlands. The specimens were all enclosed in large blocks of glauconitic sandstone.[1] In 2025, Post et al. Described Flandriacetus gijseni as a new genus and species of ziphiid beaked whale based on the 13 specimens.
Description
There are nine autapomorphies (unique derived traits) were identified in Flandriacetus: The bizygomatic width of the cranium (331-370mm), premaxillae dorsally fused until separating at least 200mm anterior the rostrums' base, a significant posterior portion of the mesorostral groove, the maxilla being separated from the nuchal crest by a wide strip of the frontal bone, the rostral base dominated by a long and wide prenarial basin, the top of the presphenoid above the premaxillas' surface, a large dorsal antorbital foramen usually combined with a significantly smaller second foramen, a moderately elevatedand slightly asymmetric leftwards oriented vertex not overhanging the external bony nares and an anterior most-tip of the nasal located around 50mm below the vertexs' surface.[1]
Phylogyny
The results of the cladogram by Post et al. are shown below
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