''Brandtocetus'' is a genus of

cetotheriid Cetotheriidae is a family of baleen whales (parvorder Mysticeti). The family is known to have existed from the Late Oligocene to the Early Pleistocene before going extinct. Although some phylogenetic studies conducted by recovered the living ...

mysticete Baleen whales (systematic name Mysticeti), also known as whalebone whales, are a parvorder of carnivorous marine mammals of the infraorder Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises) which use keratinaceous baleen plates (or "whalebone") in their m ...

in the subfamily Cetotheriinae. The type and only species is ''Brandtocetus chongulek'' from the late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

(Tortonian) of the

Kerch Kerch ( uk, Керч; russian: Керчь, ; Old East Slavic: Кърчевъ; Ancient Greek: , ''Pantikápaion''; Medieval Greek: ''Bosporos''; crh, , ; tr, Kerç) is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of t ...

Peninsula in Crimea. ''Brandtocetus chongulek'' was a whale approximately 4–5 m long differing from all Cetotheriidae by having a transversely expanded lateral portion of the

squamosal bone The squamosal is a skull bone found in most reptiles, amphibians, and birds. In fishes, it is also called the pterotic bone. In most tetrapods, the squamosal and quadratojugal bones form the cheek series of the skull. The bone forms an ancestral c ...

; a rhomboid

temporal fossa The temporal fossa is a fossa (shallow depression) on the side of the skull bounded by the temporal lines and terminating below the level of the zygomatic arch. Boundaries * Medial: frontal bone, parietal bone, temporal bone, and sphenoid bon ...

; an occipital shield extending anterior to the center of the temporal fossa; and an elongated posterior process of the tympanoperiotic with a proximodistally extended, and distally expanded, distal portion exposed as an oval surface on the posterolateral skull wall.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21795316 Baleen whales Miocene cetaceans Prehistoric cetacean genera Fossil taxa described in 2014 Miocene mammals of Europe