| Saurocetes | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | Iniidae |
| Genus: | † Saurocetes Burmeister, 1871 [2] |
| Species | |
| Synonyms | |
Saurocetes is an extinct genus of probable iniid river dolphins from South America. Two species have been described: S. argentinus and S. gigas. It has been suggested that Saurocetes is a synonym of the possible platanistid Ischyrorhynchus . [4] [5]
Saurocetes remains are fragmentary, consisting of isolated teeth, rostral fragments and mandibular fragments. [5]
Typically, Saurocetes is regarded as a member of the Iniidae, a family represented by one extant genus, Inia . [6] [7] However, it was noted as far back as 1926 that the taxonomy of Saurocetes is highly unstable, even at a family level. [5] [8] Several specimens referred to the possible platanistid genus Ischyrorhynchus closely resemble Saurocetes in many respects, and it is possible that the two genera are synonymous. [4] [5]
Iniidae is a family of river dolphins containing one living genus, Inia, and four extinct genera. The extant genus inhabits the river basins of South America, but the family formerly had a wider presence across the Atlantic Ocean.
Lipotidae is a family of river dolphins containing the possibly extinct baiji of China and the fossil genus Parapontoporia from the Late Miocene and Pliocene of the Pacific coast of North America. The genus Prolipotes, which is based on a mandible fragment from Neogene coastal deposits in Guangxi, China, has been classified as an extinct relative of the baiji, but is dubious.
Scalabrinitherium is an extinct genus of mammals of the family Macraucheniidae. Fossils of this animal were found among the fossils of prehistoric xenarthrans in the Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina.
Boto is a Portuguese name given to several types of dolphins and river dolphins native to the Amazon and the Orinoco River tributaries. A few botos exist exclusively in fresh water, and these are often considered primitive dolphins.
Australodelphis mirus is an extinct Pliocene dolphin. A. mirus is known from fossils found in the Sørsdal Formation, Mule Peninsula, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. The genus has been described as an example of convergent evolution with beaked whales.
The South American land mammal ages (SALMA) establish a geologic timescale for prehistoric South American fauna beginning 64.5 Ma during the Paleocene and continuing through to the Late Pleistocene. These periods are referred to as ages, stages, or intervals and were established using geographic place names where fossil materials where obtained.
The Colloncuran age is a period of geologic time within the Middle Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification in South America. It follows the Friasian and precedes the Laventan age.
Kentriodontidae is an extinct family of odontocete whales related to modern dolphins. The Kentriodontidae lived from the Oligocene to the Pliocene before going extinct.
Meherrinia is an extinct genus of inioid river dolphin from the Meherrin River, North Carolina, in the United States. First described in 2012, the dolphin is, in most respects, intermediate in form between the living Amazon river dolphin and the La Plata dolphin, although it is probably more closely related to the former. However, the fossil was discovered in what are believed to be marine deposits, dating from the late Miocene, whereas the Amazon river dolphin is an exclusively freshwater species. Meherrinia therefore was, as of 2012, the only known marine genus of the family Iniidae, although others have been discovered since. Only one species is known.
Lomaphorus is a possibly dubious extinct genus of glyptodont that lived during the Pleistocene in eastern Argentina. Although many species have been referred, the genus itself is possibly dubious or synonymous with other glyptodonts like Neoslerocalyptus from the same region.
Aglaocetus is a genus of extinct baleen whales known from the Miocene of Patagonia, the US Eastern Seaboard, Japan and the Low Countries. It was once considered a member of Cetotheriidae along with many other putative cetotheres, but was recently recognized as representing a distinct family from true Cetotheriidae.
The Pisco Formation is a geologic formation located in Peru, on the southern coastal desert of Ica and Arequipa. The approximately 640 metres (2,100 ft) thick formation was deposited in the Pisco Basin, spanning an age from the Middle Miocene up to the Early Pleistocene, roughly from 15 to 2 Ma. The tuffaceous sandstones, diatomaceous siltstones, conglomerates and dolomites were deposited in a lagoonal to near-shore environment, in bays similar to other Pacific South American formations as the Bahía Inglesa and Coquimbo Formations of Chile.
Hilarcotherium is an extinct genus of astrapotheriid mammals that lived in South America during the Middle Miocene (Laventan). The type species is H. castanedaii, found in sediments of the La Victoria Formation, part of the Honda Group in the department of Tolima in Colombia. In 2018, Carrillo et al. described a partial skull and mandible of a second species H. miyou from the Castilletes Formation in the Cocinetas Basin of northern Colombia, and estimated the body weight of the animal at 6,465 kilograms (14,253 lb).
Liolithax is an extinct genus of dolphin from the Middle Miocene (Serravallian) Temblor Formation of California.
Phoberodon is a genus of archaic odontocete cetacean from the Early Miocene (Burdigalian) of Patagonia, Argentina.
Delphinida is a clade of cetaceans in the parvorder Odontoceti, the toothed whales. It includes all modern oceanic dolphins, porpoises, and their relatives, such as Lipotidae and Iniidae.
Boreostemma is an extinct genus of glyptodonts from northern South America. Fossils assigned to the genus were first described as belonging to Asterostemma from southern South America, but have been placed in the new genus Boreostemma by Carlini et al. in 2008. The type species is B. pliocena. Fossils of Boreostemma have been found in the Honda Group of Colombia, in Peru and Venezuela.
Caiman australis is an extinct species of caiman described in 1858 on the basis of a left maxilla that was collected from the Upper Miocene age Ituzaingó Formation of Entre Rios, Argentina.
Bolivartherium is an extinct genus of mylodontine mylodontid sloth that lived during the Late Miocene and Late Pliocene in what is now Venezuela. Fossils have been found in the Codore and Urumaco Formations of Venezuela.
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