Norrisanima miocaena

Norrisanima miocaena is an extinct species of Balaenopteroidea from the late Miocene of California. It was originally considered a species of Megaptera, but is now considered a stem-balaenopteroid.[1][2]

Norrisanima
Temporal range: late Miocene, 7.6-7.2 Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Parvorder: Mysticeti
Superfamily: Balaenopteroidea
Genus: †Norrisanima
Species:
†N. miocaena
Binomial name
†Norrisanima miocaena
Kellogg, 1922

Taxonomy

The holotype of this species is USNM 10300, a partial skull from the Late Miocene (Tortonian) Monterey Formation of Lompoc, California.[3] Although previously included in the same genus as the humpback whale, "M." miocaena differs in having a less ventrally inflated tympanic bulla, short and rectangular nasals, and the narrow finger of the frontal excluded from the posterior part of the nasal bones.[1]

Occurrences

The Norrisanima holotype was collected from Lompoc in Santa Barbara County, California, but subsequent remains referred to this taxon have been unearthed in the Purisima Formation of Northern California and the San Diego Formation and San Mateo Formation of San Diego.[4]

References
  1. T. A. Demere, A. Berta, and M. R. McGowen. 2005. The taxonomic and evolutionary history of modern balaenopteroid mysticetes. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 12(1/2):99-143
  2. Matthew S. Leslie; Carlos Mauricio Peredo; Nicholas D. Pyenson (2019). "Norrisanima miocaena, a new generic name and redescription of a stem balaenopteroid mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Miocene of California". PeerJ. 7: e7629. doi:10.7717/peerj.7629.
  3. R. Kellogg. 1922. Description of the skull of Megaptera miocaena, a fossil humpback whale from the Miocene diatomaceous earth of Lompoc, California. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 61(14):1-18
  4. R. W. Boessenecker. 2013. A new marine vertebrate assemblage from the Late Neogene Purisima Formation in Central California, part II: Pinnipeds and Cetaceans. Geodiversitas 35(4):815-939.


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