Ambulocetidae

Taxobox
name = Ambulocetidae
fossil_range = Early Eocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Cetacea
subordo = Archaeoceti
familia = Ambulocetidae
familia_authority = Thewissen "et al", 1996
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision =
*"Ambulocetus"
*"Gandakasia"
*"Himalayacetus"

Ambulocetidae is a family of early cetaceans that still were able to walk on land. The genus "Ambulocetus", after which the family is named, is by far the most complete and well-known ambulocetid genus due to the discovery by Thewissen et al. of a partially complete specimen of "Ambulocetus natans". Another genus in the family, "Gandakasia", is known only from a single jaw fragment.

Ambulocetid fossils have been found in India and Pakistan, the former coastline of Cimmeria. The sedimentary facies in which these fossils were found indicates that ambulocetids inhabited a shallow, swampy nearshore marine environment.

See also

* Evolution of cetaceans