Isocetus is an extinct genus of baleen whale belonging to the clade Thalassotherii. Remains have been found in middle Miocene marine deposits in Belgium.
| Isocetus Temporal range:
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Parvorder: | Mysticeti |
| Clade: | †Thalassotherii |
| Genus: | †Isocetus van Beneden, 1880 |
| Species | |
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Description
editIsocetus was considered a nomen dubium by Steeman (2010) but was treated as a distinct species by Bisconti et al. (2013) based on characters of the mandibular condyle and dentary. A complete thalassothere specimen from Belgium previously assigned to Isocetus depauwi by Abel (1938) is now the holotype of the species Parietobalaena campiniana.[1][2][3]
References
edit- ^ O. Abel. 1938. Vorlaeufige mitteilungen ueber die revision der fossilen mystacoceten aus dem Tertiaer Belgiens. Bulletin du Musee royal d'Histoire naturelle de Belgique 14(1):1-34
- ^ M. Steeman. 2010. The extinct baleen whale fauna from the Miocene-Pliocene of Belgium and the diagnostic cetacean ear bones. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 8(1):63-80
- ^ M. Bisconti, O. Lambert, and M. Bosselaers. 2013. Taxonomic revision of Isocetus depauwi (Mammalia, Cetacea, Mysticeti) and the phylogenetic relationships of archaic 'cetothere' mysticetes. Palaeontology 56(1):95-127
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