#remingtonocetus

[he-who-needs-to-be-silenced]

Cetajune day 7:

A Remingtonocetus mother holds her newborn twins, Remi and ngton

[katborg82]

Remingtonocetus (Remington's Whale, named after naturalist Arthur Remington Kellogg) was an early cetacean that lived around 45 million years ago along the coastline of the ancient Tethys Sea. Remingtonocetus had a very long hydrodynamic snout, a whale-like body, and was a very efficient foot-powered swimmer.

[johncarpenters-thebling]

Scott, I am not kinkshaming an extinct animal. It's not even alive to defend itself!

Me to my friend in regards to Remingtonocetus

[palaeopedia]

The Remington Kellogg's whale, Remingtonocetus (1986)

Phylum : Chordata Class : Mammalia Order : Cetacea Suborder : Archaeoceti Family : Remingtonicetidae Genus : Remingtonocetus Speices : R. harudiensis, R. domadaensis

Middle Eocene (48,6 - 37,2 Ma)

1,3 m long (size)

India and Pakistan (map)

Sahni & Mishra 1975 named Protocetus harudiensis based on a partial skeleton, the type specimen found in the Lutetian shallow subtidal mudstone in the Harudi Formation, India. Kumar & Sahni 1986 reassigned it to Remingtonocetidae.

Remingtonocetus domandaensis was named by Gingerich et al. 2001 based on a partial skeleton found in a Lutetian coastal shale in the Domanda Formation of Pakistan.

Remingtonocetus is larger, has a broader rostrum, and longer premolars than Andrewsiphius. It is smaller than, has more gracile premolars and molars than Dalanistes. R. harudiensis differs from R. domandaensis in molar morphology.

Gingerich et al. 2001 interpreted R. domandaensis as an older and more generalized species than R. harudiensis. Based on a morphological analysis, they concluded that the hindlimbs of Remingtonocetus were probably not weight-bearing, and that the fused sacrum indicates a limitation in tail-powered locomotion, and the presence of powerful hip extensors and femoral adductors indicates that Remingtonocetus was an efficient and specialized foot-powered swimmer.

Remingtonocetus had four working and usable limbs, a slender whale-like body with long tail and slender, hydrodynamic head.