''Vampalus'' 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 ...

from Miocene (

Tortonian The Tortonian is in the geologic time scale an age or stage of the late Miocene that spans the time between 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma and 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago). It follows the Serravallian and is followed by the Messinian. The Torto ...

) marine deposits in the Russian Caucasus.K. K. Tarasenko and A. V. Lopatin. 2012. New Baleen Whale Genera (Cetacea, Mammalia) from the Miocene of the Northern Caucasus and Ciscaucasia: 2. Vampalus gen. nov. from the Middle–Late Miocene of Chechnya and Krasnodar Region. Palaeontological Journal 46(6):620-629 The type species, ''V. sayasanicus'', is based on PIN 5341/1, a complete skeleton. The cetotheriid '' Eucetotherium helmersonii'' was mistakenly assigned to ''Vampalus'' by Tarasenko and Lopatin, who were unaware that Kellogg (1931) fixed ''"Cetotherium" helmersonii'' as the ''Eucetotherium'' type species.

References

Baleen whales Miocene cetaceans Prehistoric cetacean genera Fossil taxa described in 2012 Miocene mammals of Europe {{Paleo-whale-stub