Waipatia

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Waipatia
Temporal range: Late Oligocene
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Megalampris and Waipatia.jpg
The fish Megalampris (above) and W. maerewhenua (below)
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Parvorder: Odontoceti
Superfamily: Platanistoidea (?)
Family: Waipatiidae
Fordyce, 1994
Genus: Waipatia
Fordyce, 1994
Species
  • W. maerewhenuaFordyce, 1994 [1]
  • W. hectori(Benham, 1935)
Synonyms

Waipatia is an extinct genus of dolphin from the late Oligocene (Chattian) of New Zealand.

Contents

Taxonomy

The type species, Waipatia maerewhenua is known from a single skull found near 45° South in Otago. [2] The second species, W. hectori, was originally named Microcetus hectori in 1935, but later recognized as distinct from Microcetus . [3] [4] "Uncamentodon" was informally coined for M. hectori in a table by Rothausen in a 1970 paper, but the lack of a diagnosis or description made it a nomen nudum. Finally in 2015, M. hectori was recognized as a second species of Waipatia based on preparation of additional material included in the holotype. [5]

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References

  1. Fordyce, R. E. (1994). "Waipatia maerewhenua, new genus and new species (Waipatiidae, new family), an archaic Late Oligocene dolphin (Cetacea: Odontoceti: Platanistoidea) from New Zealand" (PDF). In A. Berta & T. Deméré (ed.). Contributions in marine mammal paleontology honoring Frank C. Whitmore, Jr. (Proceedings of the San Diego Museum of Natural History, 29). pp. 147–176.
  2. Fordyce, R. Ewan. "Waipatia maerewhenua — a small archaic dolphin from the Oligocene of New Zealand". University of Otago.
  3. Benham,W. B. (1935). "The teeth of an extinct whale, Microcetus hectori n. sp." Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 65:239-243.
  4. Rothausen, K. (1961). "Ueber Microcetus, einen kleinen Squalodontiden aus dem Oberoligozaen". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 112(1):106-116.
  5. Tanaka, Y. and R. E. Fordyce (2015). "Historically significant late Oligocene dolphin Microcetus hectori Benham 1935: a new species of Waipatia (Platanistoidea)". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Further reading