Inticetus

Inticetus Temporal range: Early Miocene ~18–16.0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Infraorder:	Cetacea
Parvorder:	Odontoceti
Family:	†Inticetidae
Genus:	†Inticetus Lambert et al. 2017
Species
I. vertizi Lambert et al. 2017 (type)

Inticetus is an extinct genus of Early Miocene odontocete from the Chilcatay Formation, Pisco Basin, Peru.

Description

Inticetus is distinguished from other archaic heterodont odontocetes by the following features: long and robust rostrum bearing at least 18 teeth per quadrant; the absence of procumbent anterior teeth; many large, broad-based accessory denticles in double-rooted posterior cheek teeth; a reduced ornament of dental crowns; the styliform process of the jugal being markedly robust; a large fovea epitubaria on the periotic, with a correspondingly voluminous accessory ossicle of the tympanic bulla; and a shortened tuberculum of the malleus.[1]

Classification

Inticetus was judged by Lambert et al. to be sufficiently distinct from other archaic heterodont odontocetes to be placed in a new family, Inticetidae. The authors recovered it as either outside crown Odontoceti or as an early-branching member of Platanistoidea.

Phococetus, previously assigned to Kekenodontidae, is apparently a relative of Inticetus.[2]

References

1. Olivier Lambert, Christian de Muizon, Elisa Malinverno, Claudio Di Celma, Mario Urbina and Giovanni Bianucci. 2017. A New Odontocete (Toothed Cetacean) from the Early Miocene of Peru Expands the Morphological Disparity of Extinct Heterodont Dolphins. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2017.1359689
2. Robert W. Boessenecker (2018). Problematic archaic whale Phococetus (Cetacea: Odontoceti) from the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina, USA, with comments on geochronology of the Pungo River Formation. PalZ. in press. doi:10.1007/s12542-018-0419-3.