Eudelphis Explained

Eudelphis is an extinct genus of sperm whale belonging to Physeteroidea that lived in the ancient North Sea basin about 16-11 million years ago, during the middle Miocene (Langhian).

Distribution

The holotype of Eudelphis is known from the Langhian-age Berchem Formation of the vicinity of Antwerp, Belgium.^[1]

Taxonomy

Eudelphis was once considered a synonym of the genus Scaldicetus, but that genus is now considered of doubtful validity due to the questionably diagnostic value of the holotype tooth, and Lambert (2008) revalidated Eudelphis, classifying it as a basal physeteroid.^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}

See also

• Aulophyseter
• Orycterocetus

Notes and References

1. B. Du Bus. 1872. Mammiferes nouveaux du crag d'Anvers. Bulletins de L'Academie Royale des Sciences, des Letteres et des Beaux-Arts 34:491-509.
2. O. Abel. 1905. Les Odontocètes du Boldérien (Miocène Supérieur) D'Anvers. Mémoires du Musée royal D'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique 3:1-155
3. E. Kazár. 2002. Revised phylogeny of the Physeteridae (Mammalia: Cetacea) in light of Placoziphius Van Beneden, 1869 and Aulophyseter Kellogg, 1927. Bulletin de l'Institute Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre 72:151-170.
4. O. Hampe. 2006. Middle/late Miocene hoplocetine sperm whale remains (Odontoceti: Physeteridae) of North Germany with an emended classification of Hoplocetinae. Fossil Record 9(1):61-86
5. O. Lambert. 2008. Sperm whales from the Miocene of the North Sea: a re-appraisal. Bulletin del'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre 78:277-316