''Olympicetus'' (meaning Olympic cetacean) is an extinct genus of small simocetid toothed whales that lived during the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

epoch in what is now the coasts of Washington, about 33.7 million to 26.5

million years The abbreviation Myr, "million years", is a unit of a quantity of (i.e. ) years, or 31.556926 teraseconds. Usage Myr (million years) is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used with Mya (million years ago). ...

ago. The type species is ''Olympicetus avitus'', known from the littoral

Pysht Formation The Pysht Formation is a geologic formation in Washington (state). It preserves fossils dating back to the Paleogene period. Fossil content Crustaceans See also * List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Washington (state) * Paleontology ...

and described in 2017. A second species, ''Olympicetus thalassodon'', was named in 2023 and it is also known from this formation.

References

External links

* * Oligocene cetaceans Oligocene mammals of North America Fossil taxa described in 2017 {{paleo-whale-stub