Zygiocetus

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Zygiocetus
Temporal range: Miocene
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Cetotheriidae
Genus: Zygiocetus
Tarasenko, 2014
Species:
Z. nartorum
Binomial name
Zygiocetus nartorum
Tarasenko, 2014

Zygiocetus is an extinct genus of cetotheriid mysticete in the subfamily Cetotheriinae. The type and only species is Zygiocetus nartorum, known from the Late Miocene (Messinian) of Adygea in the Russian Caucasus.

Zygiocetus nartorum is distinguished from other cetotheriines in having slightly arched lambdoid crests, and it is distinct from Cetotherium and Kurdalagonus in having a wide supraoccipital that is shaped like an extended isosceles triangle with arched lateral sides. [1]

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References

  1. K. K. Tarasenko. 2014. New Genera of Baleen Whales (Cetacea, Mammalia) from the Miocene of the Northern Caucasus and Ciscaucasia: 3. Zygiocetus gen. nov. (Middle Sarmatian, Adygea). Paleontological Journal 48(5):551-562.