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Saghacetus
''Saghacetus'' is an extinct genus of basilosaurid early whale, fossils of which have been found in the Upper Eocene (middle Priabonian, ) Qasr el Sagha Formation, Egypt (, paleocoordinates ). In 1879, German botanist Georg August Schweinfurth spent many years exploring Africa and eventually discovered the first archaeocete whale in Egypt. He visited Qasr el Sagha in 1884 and 1886 and missed the now famous " Zeuglodon Valley" with a few kilometres. German palaeontologist Wilhelm Barnim Dames described the material, including a well-preserved dentary which is the type specimen of ''Zeuglodon osiris''. The generic name ''Saghacetus'' was established by to group the ancient species ''Dorudon osiris'', ''D. zitteli'', ''D. sensitivius'' and ''D. elliotsmithii'' on a single species, ''Saghacetus osiris''. This species is distinguished from other members of the subfamily Dorudontinae by its smaller size and the slightly elongated proximal lumbar and caudal vertebrae. ''Saghacet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qasr El Sagha Formation
The Qasr el Sagha Formation is a geological formation located in Egypt. The formation is part of the Wadi El Hitan World Heritage Site. The Qasr el Sagha Formation overlies the Birket Qarun Formation and is overlain by the Gebel Qatrani Formation. The sandstones and shales of the formation were deposited in a deltaic to shallow marine environment.Gingerich et al., 2019 It dates to the Late Eocene (middle Priabonian, ). Paleontological significance Fossils of the early whale genus ''Saghacetus'' ("Sagha whale", originally named "''Zeuglodon osiris''") were first collected at Qasr al Sagha by German explorer Georg August Schweinfurth in January 1886 (a well-preserved dentary).''Saghacetus'' is common in the middle of Qasr el Sagha, but there are few other specimens of archaeocetes whales; the only exception being the enigmatic "''Prozeuglodon stromeri''", named in 1828 based on specimens from 1904, but never adequately described before their destruction during the bombing of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basilosauridae
Basilosauridae is a family of extinct cetaceans. They lived during the middle to the early late Eocene and are known from all continents, including Antarctica. They were probably the first fully aquatic cetaceans.Buono M, Fordyce R.E., Marx F.G., Fernández M.S. & Reguero M. (2019). "Eocene Antarctica: a window into the earliest history of modern whales". ''Advances in Polar Science'' 30(3): p. 293-302. doi10.13679/j.advps.2019.0005/ref> The group is noted to be a paraphyletic assemblage of stem group whales from which the monophyletic Neoceti are derived. Characteristics Basilosaurids ranged in size from and were fairly similar to modern cetaceans in overall body form and function. Some genera tend to show signs of convergent evolution with mosasaurs by having long serpentine body shape, which suggests that this body plan seems to have been rather successful. Basilosaurid forelimbs have broad and fan-shaped scapulae attached to a humerus, radius, and ulna which are flatte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zeuglodon Osiris Dentary (Dames1894)
''Basilosaurus'' (meaning "king lizard") is a genus of large, predatory, prehistoric archaeocete whale from the late Eocene, approximately 41.3 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). First described in 1834, it was the first archaeocete and prehistoric whale known to science. Fossils attributed to the type species ''B. cetoides'' were discovered in the United States. They were originally thought to be of a giant reptile, hence the suffix "-saurus", Ancient Greek for "lizard". The animal was later found to be an early marine mammal, which prompted attempts at renaming the creature, which failed as the rules of zoological nomenclature dictate using the original name given. Fossils were later found of the second species, ''B. isis'', in 1904 in Egypt, Western Sahara, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, and Pakistan. Fossils have also been unearthed in the southeastern United States and Peru. ''Basilosaurus'' is considered to have been common in the Tethys Ocean. It was one of the largest, if not t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorudon
''Dorudon'' ("spear-tooth") is a genus of extinct basilosaurid ancient whales that lived alongside ''Basilosaurus'' 40.4 to 33.9 million years ago in the Eocene. It was a small whale, with ''D. atrox'' measuring long and weighing . ''Dorudon'' lived in warm seas around the world and fed on small fish and mollusks. Fossils have been found along the former shorelines of the Tethys Sea in present-day Egypt and Pakistan, as well as in the United States, New Zealand, and Western Sahara. Taxonomic history described ''Dorudon serratus'' based on a fragmentary maxilla and a few teeth found in South Carolina. He concluded that the teeth must have belonged to a mammal since they were two-rooted, that they must have been teeth from a juvenile since they were hollow, and also noted their similarity to the teeth then described for ''Zeuglodon'' (''Basilosaurus''). When exploring the type locality, Gibbes discovered a lower jaw and twelve caudal vertebrae, which he felt obliged to assign ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorudontinae
Dorudontinae are a group of extinct cetaceans that are related to ''Basilosaurus''.. Retrieved July 2013. Classification * Subfamily Dorudontinae ** Genus ''Ancalecetus'' *** ''Ancalecetus simonsi'' ** Genus ''Chrysocetus'' *** ''Chrysocetus fouadassii'' *** ''Chrysocetus healyorum'' ** Genus ''Cynthiacetus'' *** ''Cynthiacetus maxwelli'' *** ''Cynthiacetus peruvianus'' ** Genus ''Dorudon'' *** ''Dorudon atrox'' *** ''Dorudon serratus'' ** Genus ''Masracetus'' *** ''Masracetus markgrafi'' ** Genus ''Saghacetus'' *** ''Saghacetus osiris'' ** Genus ''Stromerius'' *** ''Stromerius nidensis'' ** Genus ''Zygorhiza ''Zygorhiza'' ("Yoke-Root") is an extinct genus of basilosaurid early whale known from the Late Eocene (Priabonian, 38–34 Ma) of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, United States, and the Bartonian (43–37 Ma on the New Zealand geologic time ...'' *** ''Zygorhiza kochii'' Notes References * Basilosauridae {{paleo-whale-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archaeoceti
Archaeoceti ("ancient whales"), or Zeuglodontes in older literature, is a paraphyletic group of primitive cetaceans that lived from the Early Eocene to the late Oligocene (). Representing the earliest cetacean radiation, they include the initial amphibious stages in cetacean evolution, thus are the ancestors of both modern cetacean suborders, Mysticeti and Odontoceti. This initial diversification occurred in the shallow waters that separated India and Asia , resulting in some 30 species adapted to a fully oceanic life. Echolocation and filter-feeding evolved during a second radiation . All archaeocetes from the Ypresian (56–47.8 mya) and most from the Lutetian (47.8–41.3 mya) are known exclusively from Indo-Pakistan, but Bartonian (41.3–38.0 mya) and Priabonian (38.0–33.9 mya) genera are known from across Earth, including North America, Egypt, New Zealand, and Europe. Although no consensus exists regarding the mode of locomotion of which cetaceans were capable during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stromerius
''Stromerius'' is an extinct genus of basilosaurid early whale known from the Late Eocene (Priabonian, ) of Fayum, Egypt (, paleocoordinates ). ''Stromerius'' is known from several well-preserved vertebrae. Distinguishing features for the genus include: long and forward-pointing metapophyses (bony processes) on the lumbar vertebrae; a relatively short lumbar spine with only twelve vertebrae of which four are interpreted as homologous to sacral vertebrae; one of the two thoracic vertebrae found has a dorsally-pointing neural spine interpreted as anticlinal (i.e. the spines of the other vertebrae are inclined towards this specific vertebra) which is a primitive retention in ''Stromerius'' not present in other basilosaurids. ''Stromerius'' is larger than the contemporary ''Saghacetus'' but smaller than the older ''Dorudon''. made ''S. nidensis'' the type species of the subfamily "Stromeriinae", but only mentioned this proposed subfamily briefly in his abstract. The genus is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wadi Al-Hitan
( ar, وادي الحيتان, lit=Valley of the Whales ) is a paleontological site in the Faiyum Governorate of Egypt, some south-west of Cairo. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2005 for its hundreds of fossils of some of the earliest forms of whale, the archaeoceti (a now extinct sub-order of whales). The site reveals evidence for the explanation of one of the greatest mysteries of the evolution of whales: the emergence of the whale as an ocean-going mammal from a previous life as a land-based animal. No other place in the world yields the number, concentration and quality of such fossils, nor their accessibility and setting in an attractive and protected landscape. The valley was therefore inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005. History The fossils found at the site may not be the oldest but their great concentration in the area and the degree of their preservation is such that even some stomach contents are intact. The presence of fossil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prehistoric Cetacean Genera
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared 5000 years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing spreading to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at very different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. In the early Bronze Age, Sumer in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilisation, and ancient Egypt were the first civilizations to develop their own scripts and to keep historical records, with their neighbors following. Most other civilizations reached the end of prehistory during the following Iron Age. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilhelm Dames
Wilhelm Barnim Dames (9 June 1843, in Stolp – 22 December 1898, in Berlin) was a German paleontologist of the Berlin University, who described the first complete specimen of the early bird ''Archaeopteryx'' in 1894. This specimen is currently in the Museum für Naturkunde. He studied at the universities of Berlin and Breslau, where he was a pupil of Ferdinand von Roemer. In 1874 he obtained his habilitation, and in 1891 succeeded Heinrich Ernst Beyrich as a full professor of geology and paleontology at the University of Berlin. With Emanuel Kayser, he was co-editor of the journal ''Paläontologische Abhandlungen''. Dames was also the first to describe an Archaeoceti fossil from Egypt in 1883. In 1894 he published ''Über Zeuglodonten aus Ägypten und die Beziehungen der Archaeoceten zu den übrigen Cetaceen'' ("On Zeuglodontes from Egypt and the relationship of Archaeoceti to the other cetacean Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle
The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Jardin des Plantes on the left bank of the River Seine. It was formally founded in 1793 during the French Revolution, but was begun even earlier in 1635 as the royal garden of medicinal plants. The museum now has 14 sites throughout France. History 17th–18th century File:Jardin du roi 1636.png, The Royal Garden of Medicinal Plants in 1636 File:Buffon statue dsc00979.jpg, Statue of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in the formal garden File:Buffon, Georges Louis - Leclerc, comte de – Histoire naturelle, générale et particuliére, 1763 – BEIC 8822844.jpg, Buffon's "Natural History" (1763) File:MNHN-logo.jpg, The museum's seal, designed in 1793, illustrates the three realms of Nature, Collecti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georg August Schweinfurth
Georg August Schweinfurth (29 December 1836 – 19 September 1925) was a Baltic German botanist and ethnologist who explored East Central Africa. Life and explorations He was born at Riga, Latvia, then part of the Russian Empire. He was educated at the universities of Heidelberg, Munich and Berlin (1856–1862), where he particularly devoted himself to botany and palaeontology. Commissioned to arrange the collections brought from Sudan by Adalbert von Barnim and Robert Hartmann, his attention was directed to that region; and in 1863 he travelled round the shores of the Red Sea, repeatedly traversed the district between that sea and the Nile, passed on to Khartoum, and returned to Europe in 1866. In 1866 botanist A.Braun published '' Schweinfurthia'' which is a genus of flowering plants from Africa and Asia, belonging to the family Plantaginaceae and named in Georg August Schweinfurth's honour. His researches attracted so much attention that in 1868 the Berlin-based Alexan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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