Kentriodon

Taxobox
name = "Kentriodon"
status = fossil
fossil_range = Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene

---

image_width = 250px
image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Cetacea
subordo = Odontoceti
familia = Kentriodontidae
genus = "Kentriodon"

The genus "Kentriodon" is the most diverse of all kentriodontids, which include three named species and five undescribed species. Kentriodontidae were small to medium-sized odontocetes (toothed cetaceans) with largely symmetrical skulls, and thought likely to include ancestors of some modern species. "Kentriodon" is the oldest described kentriodontid genus, reported from the Late Oligocene to the Middle Miocene. were found fossils in Argentina, Peru, Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, Japan, Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Romania, Turkey, Austria, Switzerland, Mexico and New Zealand. But also the USA, in California, Florida, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, VirginiaKentriodontines ate small fish and other nectonic organisms; they are thought to have been active echolocators, and might have formed pods. Diversity, morphology and distribution of fossils appear parallel to some modern species.

See also

*Evolution of cetaceans

References

*"Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals", Perrin, Würsig, Thewissen
* [http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/whales/evolution_of_whales/ The Evolution of Whales] , Adapted from National Geographic, November 2001