Pakicetus

Taxobox
name = "Pakicetus"
fossil_range = Early Eocene

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image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Cetacea
subordo = Archaeoceti
familia = Pakicetidae
subfamilia = Pakicetinae
genus = "Pakicetus"
species = "P. inachus"
binomial = "Pakicetus inachus"
binomial_authority = Gingerich & Russell, 1981

"Pakicetus" is a genus of extinct cetaceans found in the early Eocene (55.8 ± 0.2 - 33.9 ± 0.1 Ma) of Pakistan, hence their name. The strata where the fossils were found was then part of the coast of the Tethys Sea.

The first fossil, a lone skull, was thought to be a mesonychid, but Gingerich and Russell recognized it as an early cetacean from characteristic features of the inner ear, found only in cetaceans: the large auditory bulla is formed from the ectotympanic bone only. This suggests that it is a transitional species between extinct land mammals and modern cetaceans.

Complete skeletons were discovered in 2001, revealing that "Pakicetus" was primarily a land animal, about the size of a wolf, and very similar in form to the related mesonychids.

ee also

* Evolution of cetaceans

References

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