Crenatocetus

Crenatocetus (from Latin: crena, "notch", and cetus, "whale") is an extinct genus of protocetid early whale containing one species, Crenatocetus rayi, that lived along the Atlantic Coastal Plain of the United States during the Lutetian in the late middle Eocene. The species is named in honour of paleontologist Clayton E. Ray, former curator at the National Museum of Natural History.[2]

Crenatocetus
Temporal range: Middle Eocene, 45–43.5 Ma
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: †Protocetidae
Subfamily: †Protocetinae
Genus: †Crenatocetus
McLeod & Barnes 2008
Species[1]

The skull is estimated to be 75 cm (30 in) long, which makes Crenatocetus a mid-sized protocetid. Georgiacetus (from Georgia) is an older and more primitive close relative, while Pappocetus (from Nigeria) is a younger and more derived relative.[2]

The holotype USNM 392014, recovered in 1985 in a truck load of "marine marl" probably transported from New Bern, North Carolina, is two incomplete dentaries with a left P4 and broken M1-3; a right partial P4, partial M1-2, and a complete M3.[2] The type locality is the Martin Marietta New Bern Quarry, Craven County, North Carolina (35.1°N 77.1°W / 35.1; -77.1, paleocoordinates 35.1°N 66.4°W / 35.1; -66.4).[3]

References
  1. Crenatocetus in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved March 2013.
  2. McLeod, Samuel A.; Barnes, Lawrence G. (2008). "A new genus and species of Eocene protocetid archaeocete whale (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Atlantic Coastal plain". In Wang, Xiaoming; Barnes, Lawrence G. (eds.). Geology and Vertebrate Paleontology of Western and Southern North America (PDF). Science Series, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. 41. pp. 73–98.
  3. Martin Marietta New Bern Quarry (Eocene of the United States) in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved March 2013.


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