Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T14:26:03.677Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Basilotritus uheni, a new cetacean (Cetacea, Basilosauridae) from the late middle Eocene of eastern Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Pavel Gol'din  and
Evgenij Zvonok
Pavel Gol'din
Affiliation:
Taurida National University, 4, Vernadsky Avenue, Simferopol, Crimea 95007, Ukraine,
Evgenij Zvonok
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 55b, O. Gonchar str., Kiev 01054, Ukraine,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A new basal basilosaurid cetacean, Basilotritus uheni n. gen. n. sp., comes from the late middle Eocene (Bartonian) of Ukraine. It is the earliest dated record of a cetacean from Eastern Europe. The tympanic bulla of Basilotritus uheni shares basilosaurid synapomorphies but possesses unusual traits inherited from protocetids. Cetaceans related to Basilotritus uheni and referred to as Eocetus or “Eocetus” have been recorded from Africa, Europe, North America and South America. “Eocetus” wardii from North America is recombined as Basilotritus wardii. Platyosphys paulsonii and Platyosphys einori from Ukraine are considered as nomina dubia; specimens prior referred to as Platyosphys sp. are similar or related to Basilotritus. Other records of the Eocene cetaceans from Ukraine and south Russia are identified as Basilotritus or related genera. Early basilosaurids are demonstrated to be a paraphyletic, morphologically and geographically diverse group of the genera that colonized the world ocean as late as in Bartonian age and were probably the ancestors of Neoceti, as well as of more derived basilosaurids.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 87 , Issue 2 , March 2013 , pp. 254 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, C. W. 1904. Further notes on the mammals of the Eocene of Egypt. Part III. Geological Magazine, London Series 5, 1:211–215.Google Scholar
Andrews, C. W. 1906. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Tertiary Vertebrata of the Fayûm, Egypt. British Museum (Natural History), London, 324p.Google Scholar
Beatty, B. L. and Geisler, J. 2010. A stratigraphically precise record of Protosiren (Protosirenidae, Sirenia) from North America. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Palaeontologie. Abhandlungen, 258:185–194.Google Scholar
Bianucci, G. and Gingerich, P. D. 2011. Aegyptocetus tarfa, n. gen. et sp. (Mammalia, Cetacea), from the middle Eocene of Egypt: Clinorhynchy, olfaction, and hearing in a protocetid whale. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 31:1173–1188.Google Scholar
Bogachev, V. V. 1959. Remains of a cetacean from the Oligocene of Tsimlyanskaya. Trudy Instytuta Mineral'nykh Resursiv Akademii Nauk USSR, Kiev, 1:40–42. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Brandt, J. F. 1873. Untersuchungen über die fossilen und subfossilen cetaceen Europa's. Mémoires de L'Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Petersbourg, Series 7, 20:1–372.Google Scholar
Brisson, A. D. 1762. Regnum Animale in Classes IX distributum sive synopsis methodica. Edito altero auctior. Theodorum Haak, Leiden, 294p.Google Scholar
Buffrénil, V. de, de Ricqlès, A., Ray, C. E., And Domning, D. P. 1990. Bone histology of the ribs of the archaeocetes (Mammalia: Cetacea). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 10:455–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchholtz, E. A. 2001. Vertebral osteology and swimming style in living and fossil whales (Order: Cetacea). Journal of Zoology, London, 253:175–190.Google Scholar
Carus, C. G., Geinitz, H. B., Günther, A. F., and Reichenbach, H. G. L. 1847. Resultate geologischer, anatomischer und zoologischer Untersuchungen über das unter dem Namen Hydrarchos von Dr. A.C. Koch zuerst nach Europa ebrachte und in Dresden ausgestellte grosse fossile Skelett. Arnoldische Buchhandlung, Dresden, 15 s.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1868. Second contribution to the history of the Vertebrata of the Miocene period of the United States. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 20:184–194.Google Scholar
Dames, W. 1894. Über Zeuglodonten aus Aegypten und die Beziehungen der Archaeoceten zu den Übrigen Cetaceen. Palaeontologische Abhandlungen, 1:189–221.Google Scholar
Dercourt, J., Gaetani, M., Vrielynck, B., Barrier, E., Biju-Duval, B., Brunet, M. F., Cadet, J. P., Crasquin, S., and Sandulescu, M.(eds.). 2000. Atlas Peri-Tethys, Palaeogeographical Maps. Commission de la Carte Géologique du Monde/Commission for the Geologic Map of the World, Paris, Explanatory Notes, 269p.Google Scholar
Fedorovsky, A. 1912. A record of a fossil cetacean in Zmiev uyezd of Kharkov government. Trudy Obshchestva Ispytateley Prirody Kharkovskogo Univeristeta, 14:253–287. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Fraas, E. 1904. Neue Zeuglodonten aus dem Unteren Mitteleocån vom Mokattam bei Cairo. Geologische und Palaeontologische Abhandlungen, 6:199–220.Google Scholar
Galatius, A., Berta, A., Frandsen, M. S., and Goodall, R. N. P. 2011. Interspecific variation of ontogeny and skull shape among porpoises (Phocoenidae). Journal of Morphology, 272:136–148.Google Scholar
Geisler, J. H., Sanders, A. E., and Luo, Z.-X. 2005. A new protocetid whale (Cetacea: Archaeoceti) from the late middle Eocene of South Carolina. American Museum Novitates, 3480:1–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbes, R. W. 1845. Description of the teeth of a new fossil animal found in the Green Sand of South Carolina. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 2:254–256.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D. 1992. Marine Mammals (Cetacea and Sirenia) from the Eocene of Gebel Mokattam and Fayum, Egypt: Stratigraphy, Age, and Paleoenvironments. University of Michigan Papers on Paleontology, 30:1–84.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D. 2003. Land-to-sea transition of early whales: Evolution of Eocene Archaeoceti (Cetacea) in relation to skeletal proportions and locomotion of living semiaquatic mammals. Paleobiology, 29:429–454.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D., Arif, M., Bhatti, M. A., Anwar, M., and Sanders, W. J. 1997. Basilosaurus drazindai and Basiloterus hussaini, new archaeoceti (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Middle Eocene Drazinda Formation, with a revised interpretation of ages of whale-bearing strata in the Kirthar Group of the Sulaiman Range, Punjab (Pakistan). Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 30:55–81.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D., Arif, M., Bhatti, M. A., Raza, H. A., and Raza, S. M. 1995. Protosiren and Babiacetus (Mammalia, Sirenia and Cetacea) from the middle Eocene Drazinda Formation, Sulaiman Range, Punjab (Pakistan). Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 29:331–357.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D., Ul-Haq, M., Von Koenigswald, W., Sanders, W. J., Smith, B. H., and Zalmout, I. S. 2009. New protocetid whale from the Middle Eocene of Pakistan: Birth on land, precocial development, and sexual dimorphism. PLoS ONE 4 (2):e4366.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D. and Uhen, M. D. 1996. Ancalecetus simonsi, a new dorudontine archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the early late Eocene of Wadi Hitan, Egypt. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 29:359–401.Google Scholar
Gol'din, P. E., Zvonak, E. A., and Krakhmalnaya, T. V.In press. New records of “Eocetus” sp. (Mammalia: Cetacea) from the Eocene of Ukraine. Geolog Ukrainy. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Goloboff, P. A., Farris, J. S., and Nixon, K. C. 2003. T.N.T.: Tree analysis using new technology. Program and documentation available from the authors, and fromwww.zmuc.dk/public/phylogeny/TNT.Google Scholar
Gray, N.-M., Kainec, K., Madar, S., Tomko, L., and Wolfe, S. 2007. Sink or swim? Bone density as a mechanism for buoyancy control in early cetaceans. The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology, 290:638–653.Google Scholar
Gritsenko, V. 2001. New species Platiosphys einori Archaeoceti from Oliogocenic deposits of Kiev. Visnyk Kyivskogo Natsionalnogo Universyteta Imeni Tarasa Shevchenka, Ser. Geologiya, 20:17–20. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Harlan, R. 1834. Notice of fossil bones found in the Tertiary formation of the State of Louisiana. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 4:397–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hector, J. 1881. Notes on New Zealand Cetacea, recent and fossil. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 13:434–437Google Scholar
Hulbert, R. C. Jr. 1998. Postcranial osteology of the North American middle Eocene protocetid Georgiacetus, p. 235–268. InThewissen, J. G. M.(ed.), The Emergence of Whales, Evolutionary Patterns in the Origin of Cetacea. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hulbert, R. C. Jr., Petkewich, R. M., Bishop, G. A., Bukry, D., and Aleshire, D. P. 1998. A new middle Eocene protocetid whale (Mammalia: Cetacea: Archaeoceti) and associated biota from Georgia. Journal of Paleontology, 72:907–927.Google Scholar
Kalmykov, N. P. 2012. New finding of the ancient whale Basilosaurus (Cetacea, Archaeoceti: Basilosauridae) in the Lower Don area. Doklady Earth Sciences, 442:178–180.Google Scholar
Kellogg, R. 1936. A review of the Archaeoceti. Carnegie Institution of Washington, 482:1–366.Google Scholar
Köhler, R. and Fordyce, R. E. 1997. An archaeocete whale (Cetacea: Archaeoceti) from the Eocene Waiho Greensand, New Zealand. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 17:574–583.Google Scholar
Lancaster, W. C. 1990. The middle ear of the Archaeoceti. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 10:117–127.Google Scholar
Luo, Z.-X. 1998. Homology and transformation of the cetacean ectotympanic bullae, p. 269–301. InThewissen, J. G. M.(ed.), The Emergence of Whales, Evolutionary Patterns in the Origin of Cetacea. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Luo, Z.-X. and Gingerich, P. D. 1999. Terrestrial Mesonychia to aquatic Cetacea: Transformation of the basicranium and evolution of hearing in whales. University of Michigan Papers on Paleontology, 31:1–98.Google Scholar
Martínez-Cáceres, M. and de Muizon, C. 2011. A new basilosaurid (Cetacea, Pelagiceti) from the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene Otuma Formation of Peru. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 10:517–526.Google Scholar
Mead, J. G. and Fordyce, R. E. 2009. The therian skull: A lexicon with emphasis on the odontocetes. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 627:1–248.Google Scholar
Mitchell, E. D. 1989. A new cetacean from the late Eocene La Meseta Formation, Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 46:2219–2235.Google Scholar
Odin, G. S. and Matter, A. 1981. De glauconiarum origine. Sedimentology, 28:611–641.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1839. Observations on the Basilosaurus of Dr. Harlan (Zeuglodon cetoides, Owen). Transactions of the Geological Society of London Series 2, 6:69–79.Google Scholar
Ricqlès, A. de, and de Buffrénil, V. 2001. Bone histology, heterochronies, and the return of Tetrapods to life in water: Where are we? p. 289–310. InMazin, J.-M. and de Buffrénil, V.(eds.), Secondary Adaptation of Tetrapods to Life in Water. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München, Germany.Google Scholar
Rogovich, A. S. 1873. On the thunderstones of a stone mountain in the town of Chigirin. Trudy 3 S'ezda Russkikh Yestestvoispytateley v Kieve. Otdeleniye Mineralogii, Geologii i Paleontologii, 1:2.(In Russian)Google Scholar
Ryabokon', T. S. 2002. Biostratigraphy of Kiev Suite type section (Middle Eocene) of Dnieper-Donets depression by the data of studying foraminiferes. Geologo-Mineralogichny Vestnik, 2:39–50. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Stromer, E. 1903. Zeuglodon-reste aus dem Oberen Mitteleocän des Fajum. Beiträge zur Paläontologie und Geologie Österreich-Ungarns und des Orients, 15:65–100.Google Scholar
Stromer, E. 1908. Die Archaeoceti des Ägyptischen Eozäns. Beiträge zur Paläontolgie und Geologie Östrerreich-Ungarns und des Orients, 21:1–70.Google Scholar
Stratigraphic Schemes of the Phanerozoic Formations of Ukraine for Geological Maps of New Generation. Graphic Attachments. 1993. Ukrainian Regional Inter-Ministry Stratigraphic Commission, Kiev, 42p. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Trivedy, A. N. and Satsangi, P. P. 1984. A new archaeocete (whale) from the Eocene of India. The 27th International Geological Congress, Moscow, Abstracts 1:322–323.Google Scholar
Udovichenko, M. 2011. A new location of teeth of Eocene sharks (v. Nagirne, Kirovograd prov.). The value of complex litho- and biostratigraphical studies during petroleum exploration, All-Ukrainian Scientific Conference, Lviv, Abstracts 1:61–63. (In Ukrainian)Google Scholar
Uhen, M. D. 1999. New species of protocetid archaeocete whale, Eocetus wardii (Mammalia: Cetacea) from the middle Eocene of North Carolina. Journal of Paleontology, 73:512–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhen, M. D. 2001. New material of Eocetus wardii (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the middle Eocene of North Carolina. Southeastern Geology, 40:135–148.Google Scholar
Uhen, M. D. 2004. Form, Function, and Anatomy of Dorudon atrox (Mammalia, Cetacea): An Archaeocete from the Middle to Late Eocene of Egypt. The University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology Papers on Paleontology, 34:1–222.Google Scholar
Uhen, M. D. 2005. A new genus and species of archaeocete whale from Mississippi. Southeastern Geology, 43:157–172.Google Scholar
Uhen, M. D. 2008. New protocetid whales from Alabama and Mississippi, and a new cetacean clade, Pelagiceti. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 28:589–593.Google Scholar
Uhen, M. D. 2009. Basilosaurids, p. 91–94. InThewissen, J. G. M., Perrin, W. F., and Wursig, B.(eds.), Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals (second edition). Elsevier, Burlington, Massachussetts.Google Scholar
Uhen, M. D. and Gingerich, P. D. 2001. New genus of dorudontine archaeocete (Cetacea) from the Middle-to-Late Eocene of South Carolina. Marine Mammal Science, 17:1–34.Google Scholar
Uhen, M. D. and Berndt, H.-J. 2008. First record of the archaeocete whale family Protocetidae from Europe. The Fossil Record, 11:57–60.Google Scholar
Uhen, M. D., Pyenson, N. D., Devries, T. J., Urbina, M., and Renne, P. R. 2011. New middle Eocene whales from the Pisco Basin of Peru. Journal of Paleontology, 85:955–969.Google Scholar
Weems, R. E., Edwards, L. E., Osborne, J. E., and Alford, A. A. 2011. An occurrence of the protocetid whale “Eocetus” wardii in the Middle Eocene Piney Point Formation of Virginia. Journal of Paleontology, 85:271–278.Google Scholar
Zosimovich, V.Yu. 2012. Paleosedimentation provinces of Paleogene and Neogene of Ukraine. Paleontological research in stratigraphy of Phanerozoic deposits, 34th Session of the Paleontological Society of NAS Ukraine, Kiev, Abstracts 1:59–61. (In Ukrainian)Google Scholar
Zvonok, E. A. 2012. On the problematic Eocene cetacean from Nagirne site (Kirovograd prov., Ukraine) and the significance of archaeocetes for stratigraphic research. Geolog Ukrainy, 1–2:87–93. (In Russian)Google Scholar