Pappocetus
| Pappocetus Temporal range: Late Eocene, }
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| File:Andrews-1920-Plate-1-Pappocetus-ligardi.JPEG | |
| Pappocetus lugardi specimens from Andrews 1919 | |
| File:Pappocetus lugardi reconstructed skull.jpg | |
| Reconstructed skull at the Vancouver Aquarium | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Protocetidae |
| Subfamily: | †Georgiacetinae |
| Genus: | †Pappocetus Andrews 1919 |
| Species | |
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Pappocetus (meaning "grandfather whale") is an extinct protocetid cetacean known from the Eocene of southern Nigeria's Ameki Formation and Togo.[1] More recently, fossil teeth and femurs have also been discovered in the Aridal Formation of the Sahara Desert in southwestern Morocco.[2]
Etymology
[edit | edit source]The species is named after Sir Frederick Lugard who sent one of the specimens to Andrews.
Description
[edit | edit source]Pappocetus is the largest known protocetid (if Eocetus is recovered as a basilosaurid).[2] Its body size was estimated to be similar to that of Eocetus. It also differs from all other known protocetid genera by the step-like notch on the ventral margin of the mandible below M2 and M3; from Indocetus and Rodhocetus by the deciduous double-rooted P1; from Protocetus and Babiacetus by the presence of accessory cuspules; and from Babiacetus by the unfused symphysis terminating just before P3. Its molar morphology is similar to Georgiacetus.[3]
Specimens
[edit | edit source]The type specimen BMNH M11414 is an incomplete left mandible with symphysis, a deciduous premolar, and unerupted molars.[3] It was found in Bartonian (40.4 to 37.2 million years ago) layers of the Ameki Formation (Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found., paleocoordinates Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.)[4] in southern Nigeria.[3][5]
The specimen M11086 is a left mandibular ramus broken in three pieces with sockets for canines and incisors and the front part of a single-rooted P1. Andrews, to whom the two specimens were brought separately, noted that they "to some extent supplement one another, so that the structure is fairly clear" and thus estimated the size and morphology of the missing parts by comparing the specimens to each other.[6]
Notes
[edit | edit source]- ^ Pappocetus in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved April 2013.
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b c Williams 1998, pp. 11–12
- ^ Port Harcourt RR in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved April 2013.
- ^ Pappocetus lugardi in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved April 2013.
- ^ Andrews 1919, p. 309
References
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