''Saghacetus'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of basilosaurid early whale, fossils of which have been found in the Upper Eocene (middle

Priabonian The Priabonian is, in the ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age or the upper stage of the Eocene Epoch or Series. It spans the time between . The Priabonian is preceded by the Bartonian and is followed by the Rupelian, the lowest stage ...

, ) Qasr el Sagha Formation,

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

(, paleocoordinates ). Zeuglodon osiris dentary (Dames1894)

In 1879, German botanist

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 ed ...

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. ''Saghacetus'' was a small whale, reaching in length and in body mass. It was smaller than its contemporary '' Stromerius'', both of which are smaller than the older '' Dorudon''.

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References

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* * * * Basilosauridae Prehistoric cetacean genera Fossil taxa described in 1992 Eocene mammals of Africa {{paleo-whale-stub