Diaphorocetus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Early Miocene (Deseadan-Colhuehuapian)
~{{fossil range|23.03|20.43}}

| image = Diaphorocetus poucheti 2.jpg

| image_upright = 1.15

| image_caption = Diaphorocetus poucheti skull

| taxon = Diaphorocetus

| authority = Ameghino, 1894

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = D. poucheti {{small|(type)}}

| synonyms =

  • Hypocetus {{small|Lydekker 1893}}
  • Mesocetus {{small|Moreno 1892}}
  • Paracetus {{small|Lydekker 1893}}

}}

Diaphorocetus is an extinct genus of odontocete cetacean belonging to Physeteroidea. Its remains were found in the Monte León Formation of Argentina, dating to the Early Miocene.[https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=36705 Diaphorocetus] at Fossilworks.org

Systematics

Diaphorocetus was originally named Mesocetus by Moreno (1892).Moreno, F. P. 1892. Lijeros apuntes sobre dos generos de cetaceos fosiles de la Republica Argentina. Revista de la Museo La Plata 3, 393–400. Lydekker (1893) found that Mesocetus was already in use for an extinct mysticete, so he renamed the sperm whale Hypocetus.Lydekker, R. 1893 [1894]. Cetacean skulls from Patagonia. Anales del Museo de la Plata 2: 1–13. Ameghino (1894) too recognized Moreno's name as preoccupied, but unaware of Lydekker's paper, coined his own replacement name Diaphorocetus for Mesocetus.Ameghino, F. 1894. Enum�eration synoptique des especes de mammiferes fossiles des formations �eocenes de Patagonie. Boletin de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias en C�ordoba 13: 259–455 Diaphorocetus was declared a nomen protectum (protected name) by Paolucci et al. (2019) because Hypocetus and Paracetus have not been used as valid since 1899 under Article 23.9 of the Code.Florencia Paolucci, Mónica R. Buono, Marta S. Fernández, Felix G. Marx & José I. Cuitiño (2019). Diaphorocetus �poucheti (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Physeteroidea) from Patagonia, Argentina: one of the earliest sperm whales, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, DOI:10.1080/14772019.2019.1605544

Paleobiology

The small teeth of Diaphorocetus and the bottleneck-like nature of the rostrum suggest that Diaphorocetus employed a feeding strategy intermediate between that of raptorial sperm whales like Acrophyseter and Livyatan and extant sperm whales.

References