Gandakasia
| Gandakasia | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Ambulocetidae |
| Genus: | †Gandakasia Dehm & Oettingen-Spielberg, 1958 |
| Species: | †G. potens
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Gandakasia potens Dehm & Oettingen-Spielberg, 1958[2]
| |
Gandakasia is an extinct genus of ambulocetid from Pakistan, that lived in the Eocene epoch. It probably caught its prey near rivers or streams. Just like Himalayacetus, Gandakasia is only known from a single jaw fragment, making comparisons to other ambulocetids difficult due to the lack of material.[3] Gandakasia probably inhabited a freshwater niche similar to the pakicetids.[3]
Discovery
Gandakasia, named in 1958 by Dehm and Oettingen-Spielberg, was the first ambulcetid to be formally described. Because at the time no other cetaceans were known that possessed a similar morphology, Gandakasia was originally mistaken as a mesonychian.[4] However, in 1977, Phillip Gingerich suggested that Gandakasia was a basal member of cetacea.[5]
References
- ^ Thewissen, J. G. M., ed. (1998). The Emergence of Whales. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-0159-0. ISBN 978-1-4899-0161-3. S2CID 30660655.
- ^ Dehm, R.; Oettingen-Spielberg, T. (1958). Die mitteleocänen Säugetiere von Ganda Kas bei Basal in Nordwest-Pakistan [The Middle Eocene mammals of Ganda Kas near Basal in northwestern Pakistan] (in German). Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
- ^ a b Cooper, Lisa Noelle; Thewissen, J. G.M.; Hussain, S. T. (2009). "New middle Eocene archaeocetes (Cetacea: Mammalia) from the Kuldana Formation of northern Pakistan". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29 (4): 1289–1299. Bibcode:2009JVPal..29.1289C. doi:10.1671/039.029.0423. S2CID 84127292.
- ^ Dehm, Richard; Oettingen-Spielberg, Therese (1958). "Paläontologische und geologische Untersuchungen im Tertiär von Pakistan 2. Die mitteleocänen Säugetiere von Ganda Kas bei Basal in Nordwest-Pakistan" (PDF) (in German).
- ^ Gingerich, Phillip (1977). "A Small Collection of Fossil Vertebrates from the Middle Eocene Kuldana and Kohat Formations of Punjab (Pakistan)". ResearchGate.