Cetotherium

The modest sized Cetotherium was a primitive baleen whale that lived during the middle to late Miocene epoch (15 MYA) of the Neogene Period. This whale genus is known from several individual species, perhaps as many as 10, that have been found in the USA, across Europe and Russia. When compared with their modern counter parts (e.g. humpback whales), their sizes were much smaller 2-4 metres.

I

Name

Cetotherium rathkii

Authority

Brandt, 1843

Meaning of generic name

'Whale Beast'

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Middle Miocene (Serravallian).

Locality: Taman peninsula, Russia.

Classification

Mammalia Cetacea Mysticeti Cetotheriidae.

Further Reading

J. F. Brandt. 1843. De cetotherio, novo balaenarum familiae genre in Rossia Meridionali ante aliquot annos effoso. Bulletin de La Classe Physico-Mathématique de L'Académie Impérial des Sciences de Saint Pétersberg 1(10-12):145-148.

Synonyms

Cetotherium rathkei

II

Name

Cetotherium priscum

Authority

(Eichwald, 1840)

Meaning of specific name

Early

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Upper Middle Miocene (Sarmatian, Serravallian).

Locality: Kertsch, Ukraine.

Also: Austria (Szentmargita, Leitha Limestone Formation, Langhian); Moldova (Chisinau, Serravalian); Romania (Madulari, Serravalian); Russia (Kutsay Mountain, Serravallian); Turkey (Kurtchu-Tchekmedje, Up. Miocene).

Classification

Mammalia Cetacea Mysticeti Cetotheriidae.

Further Reading

C. E. Eichwald. 1840. Bescrieibung einiger Knocken des Ziphius priscus. Die Urwelt Russlands 2:25-53.

Synonyms

Choneziphius priscus, Plesiocetus priscus, Ziphius priscus

III

Name

Cetotherium pusillum

Authority

Nordmann, 1860

Meaning of specific name

weeny small

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Middle Miocene (Serravallian).

Locality: Chisinau, Moldova.

Classification

Mammalia Cetacea Mysticeti Cetotheriidae.

Further Reading

A. Nordmann. 1860. Palaentologie Sudresslands 1-360.

IV

Name

Cetotherium ambiguum

Authority

Brandt, 1873

Meaning of specific name

ambiguous

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Late Middle Miocene (Sarmatian, Serravallian).

Locality: Nussdorf, Austria.

Further Reading

J. F. Brandt. 1873. Untersuchungen über die fossilen und subfossilen cetaceen Europa's. Mémoires de L'Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Petersbourg, Series 7 20(1):1-372.

V

Name

Cetotherium crassangulum

Authority

Cope, 1895

Meaning of specific name

of thick angles

Remains

Holotype (USNM 8517): a skull

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Yorktown Formation. Pliocene.

Locality: City Point, Virginia.

Further Reading

E. D. Cope. 1895. Fourth contribution to the marine fauna of the Miocene period of the United States. Proceedings of the American Philosphical Society 34:135-155.

VI

Name

Cetotherium furlongi

Authority

Kellogg, 1925

Meaning of specific name

"of a furlong" [not likely unless exaggeration] or "of Furlong" [whoever that was]

Remains

Holotype (USNM 26521): partial skeleton

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Vaqueros Formation. Early Miocene (Burdigalian).

Locality: Stone Canyon, California.

Further Reading

R. Kellogg. 1925. Fossil cetotheres from California. Contributions to Palaeontology from the Carnegie Institution of Washington (2)35-56 .

Image by Nobu Tamura (click to enlarge)

"Cetotherium furlongi" (but I think it is a whale):

VII

Name

Cetotherium klinderi

Authority

Brandt, 1871

Meaning of specific name

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Late Middle Miocene (Sarmatian, Serravallian).

Locality: Mykolayiv, Ukraine.

Further Reading

J. F. Brandt. 1871. Bericht uber den Fortgang meiner Studien uber di Cetaceen, welche das grosse zur Tertiarzeit von Mitteleuropa bis Centralasien hinein ausgedehnte Meeresbechen bevolkerten. Bulletin de l'Academie Imperiale de St. Petersbourg 1871:563-566 .

[In proper German the words would read: Bericht über den Fortgang meiner Studien über die Cetaceen, welche das große zur Tertiarzeit von Mitteleuropa bis Centralasien hinein ausgedehnte Meeresbecken bevölkerten. Perhaps the printer in St. Petersbourg was short of German letter types?]

VIII

Name

Cetotherium maicopicum

Authority

Spasski, 1951

Meaning of specific name

from Maikop

Remains

Holotype (IBP S144, S131, S142, S154, S125, S126, S128, S130):partial skeleton

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Late Middle Miocene (Sarmatian, Serravallian).

Locality: River Belaia, Russia.

Further Reading

P. I. Spasski. 1951. Ostaki tsetoheriev iz Servernogo Kavkaza (okr. g. Maikopa) [Remains of cetotheria from the Northern Caucasus in the neighborhood of Maikop Town.] Izvestia Akademii Nauk Azerbaidzhanskoi SSR 2:57-65.

IX

Name

Cetotherium mayeri

Authority

Brandt, 1871

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Late Middle Miocene (Sarmatian, Serravallian).

Locality: Russia (River Belaia, Derbent, Kuban) and Georgia.

Further Reading

J. F. Brandt. 1871. Bericht uber den Fortgang meiner Studien uber di Cetaceen, welche das grosse zur Tertiarzeit von Mitteleuropa bis Centralasien hinein ausgedehnte Meeresbechen bevolkerten. Bulletin de l'Academie Imperiale de St. Petersbourg 1871:563-566 . [For correct linguistic form of title, see above]

A. N. Riabinin. 1934. New contributions to the osteology of Cetotherium mayeri Brandt, from the Upper Sarmatian of the North Caucasus. Transactions of the United Geological and Prospecting Service of USSR 350:1-15.

X

Name

Cetotherium parvum

Authority

Trouessart, 1898

Meaning of specific name

small

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Saint Marys Formation. Late Miocene (Tortonian).

Locality: Drum Point, Calvert County, Maryland, US.

Also: Charles County, Maryland, US (Calvert Formation, Serravallian)

Further Reading

E. L. Trouessart. 1898. Catalogus mammalium tam viventium quam fossilum 5:665-1264.

Synonyms

Cetotherium pusillum Cope 1868, Delphinapterus tyrannus Cope 1868

I- X, Creationist comment:

What if they are just plain old whales?

Cetotheriopsis lintianus

Like many early discoveries, the fossil of Cetotheriopsis lintianus (a partial skull) discovered from the Late Oligocene of Austria, has a complex nomenclatural history. It has been described at least twice, first by von Meyer as Balaeonodon lintianus and as Stenodon lentianus by Van Beneden, 1865. Brandt assigned the first to Cetotheriopsis in 1871 and van Beneden, the second to Aulocetus in 1875. The name Cetotheriopsis has been retained making Aulocetus a junior synonym but Aulocetus becomes problematic as several species not related to Cetotheriopsis have also been placed in this genus.

Name

Cetotheriopsis lintianus

Authority

(von Meyer, 1849)

Meaning of generic name

Whale beast face

[wow, actually composed of three words!]

Meaning of specific name

From Linz

Remains

Holotype (OL 1999/27): partial skull.

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Linzer Sanden Formation. Late Oligocene (Chattian).

Locality: Near Linz, Austria.

Classification

Mammalia Cetacea Mysticeti Cetotheriopsidae

Further Reading

H. Meyer. 1849. [Letter on various fossils]. Neues Jahrbuch fur Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie un Petrefakten-Kunde 1849:547-550.

J. F. Brandt. 1871. Bericht uber den Fortgang meiner Studien uber di Cetaceen, welche das grosse zur Tertiarzeit von Mitteleuropa bis Centralasien hinein ausgedehnte Meeresbechen bevolkerten. Bulletin de l'Academie Imperiale de St. Petersbourg 1871:563-566

K. Rothausen. 1971. Cetotheriopsis tobieni n. sp., der este paläogene Bartenwal (Cetotheriidae, Mysticeti, Mamm.) nördlich des Tethysraumes. Abhandlungen des Hessischen Landesamtes fuer Bodenforschung 60:131-148.

Synonyms

Aulocetus lentianus (van Beneden, 1865), Balaenodon lintianus von Meyer, 1849, Balaenodon linzianus (Brandt, 1871), Cetotheriopsis linziana Brandt, 1871, Stenodon lentianus Van Beneden, 1865

Austriadactylus cristatus

Austriadactylus lived during the Late Triassic Period (Norian); the only known specimen was found in an abandoned mine in Austria. It was a relatively small pterosaur with a wingspan of 1 m (3.3 ft) and a skull length of 10 cm, the skull of which possessed an unusual bony crest that widened towards the snout.

Name

Austriadactylus cristatus

Authority

Dalla Vecchia, Wild, Hopf & Reitner, 2002

Meaning of generic name

Austria finger

[or "Austria pterodactyl" = "Austria wingfinger", the -ptero- being understood but suppressed for brevity]

Meaning of specific name

crested, see text above

Size

Wingspan: 1 m, Length: 25 cm (without tail), Skull length: 10 cm

Remains

Nearly complete skeleton

[Holotype (SMNS 56342)]

Age and Distribution

Abandoned mine near Ankerschlag, Tyrol, NW Austria; Seefelder Schichten, late Alaunian (middle Norian).

Classification

Pterosauria Campylognathoididae

Further Reading

F. M. Dalla Vecchia, R. Wild, H. Hopf and J. Reitner. 2002. A crested rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur from the Late Triassic of Austria. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(1):196-199.

Image by Nobu Tamura (click to enlarge)

Austriadactylus cristatus: