Gandakasia

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Gandakasia
Temporal range: 47.8–41.2  Ma
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family:† Ambulocetidae
Genus:† Gandakasia
Dehm & Oettingen-Spielberg, 1958
Species:
†G. potens
Binomial name
†Gandakasia potens
Dehm & Oettingen-Spielberg, 1958 [2]

Gandakasia is an extinct genus of ambulocetid from Pakistan, that lived in the Eocene epoch. It probably caught its prey near rivers or streams. Just like Himalayacetus , Gandakasia is only known from a single jaw fragment, making comparisons to other ambulocetids difficult due to the lack of material. [3] Gandakasia probably inhabited a freshwater niche similar to the pakicetids. [3]

Discovery

Gandakasia, named in 1958 by Dehm and Oettingen-Spielberg, was the first ambulcetid to be formally described. Because at the time no other cetaceans were known that posessed a similar morphology, Gandakasia was originally mistaken as a mesonychian. [4] However, in 1977, Phillip Gingerich suggested that Gandakasia was a basal member of cetacea. [5]

References

  1. ↑ Thewissen, J. G. M., ed. (1998). The Emergence of Whales. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-0159-0. ISBN   978-1-4899-0161-3. S2CID   30660655.
  2. ↑ Dehm, R.; Oettingen-Spielberg, T. (1958). Die mitteleocänen Säugetiere von Ganda Kas bei Basal in Nordwest-Pakistan[The Middle Eocene mammals of Ganda Kas near Basal in northwestern Pakistan] (in German). Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
  3. 1 2 Cooper, Lisa Noelle; Thewissen, J. G.M.; Hussain, S. T. (2009). "New middle Eocene archaeocetes (Cetacea: Mammalia) from the Kuldana Formation of northern Pakistan". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29 (4): 1289–1299. Bibcode:2009JVPal..29.1289C. doi:10.1671/039.029.0423. S2CID   84127292.
  4. ↑ Dehm, Richard; Oettingen-Spielberg, Therese (1958). "Paläontologische und geologische Untersuchungen im Tertiär von Pakistan 2. Die mitteleocänen Säugetiere von Ganda Kas bei Basal in Nordwest-Pakistan" (PDF).
  5. ↑ Gingerich, Phillip (1977). "A Small Collection of Fossil Vertebrates from the Middle Eocene Kuldana and Kohat Formations of Punjab (Pakistan)". ResearchGate.


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