Waipatia

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

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

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]

References
  1. R. E. Fordyce (1994). "Waipatia maerewhenua, new genus and new species (Waipatiidae, new family), an archaic Late Oligocene dolphin (Cetacea: Odontoceti: Platanistoidea) from New Zealand". 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) (PDF). pp. 147–176.
  2. R. Ewan Fordyce. "Waipatia maerewhenua — a small archaic dolphin from the Oligocene of New Zealand". University of Otago.
  3. W. B. Benham. 1935. The teeth of an extinct whale, Microcetus hectori n. sp. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand 65:239-243
  4. K. Rothausen. 1961. Ueber Microcetus, einen kleinen Squalodontiden aus dem Oberoligozaen. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 112(1):106-116
  5. Y. Tanaka 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
  • Marine Mammals: Evolutionary Biology by Annalisa Berta, James L. Sumich, and Kit M. Kovacs
  • Aquagenesis: The Origin and Evolution of Life in the Sea by Richard Ellis
  • Wildlife of Gondwana: Dinosaurs and Other Vertebrates from the Ancient Supercontinent (Life of the Past) by Pat Vickers Rich, Thomas Hewitt Rich, Francesco Coffa, and Steven Morton
  • Marine Mammal Biology: An Evolutionary Approach by A. Rus Hoelzel


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