Cranial anatomy of middle EoceneRemingtonocetus(Cetacea, Mammalia) from Kutch, India
2011/07/01 by Sunil Bajpai, J. G. M. Thewissen, R. W. Conley · 1 citation
Environmental Science · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Marine animal studies overview #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies #Ichthyology and Marine Biology #Rostrum #Cetacea #Skull #Paleontology #Anatomy #Biology #Cretaceous #Geology #Zoology #Genus
paper · doi:10.1666/10-128.1
openalex publication_date 2011/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Abstract
The family Remingtonocetidae is a basal family of Eocene cetaceans only known from near shore marine environments of India and Pakistan. We describe a new skull for Remingtonocetus harudiensis which elucidates the anatomy and functional morphology of the head and provides new details on cranial cavity and nasopharyngeal region. We suggest that Remingtonocetus was an ambush predator that hunted from a perch on the ocean floor, and that hearing was its most important sense. We speculate that the greatly elongated rostrum is an adaptation for water retention because these are some of the earliest whales living in seawater.
Citations
- Attockicetus praecursor, A New Remingtonocetid Cetacean from Marine Eocene Sediments of Pakistan
- Endocranial Volume of Mid-Late Eocene Archaeocetes (Order: Cetacea) Revealed by Computed Tomography: Implications for Cetacean Brain Evolution
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- Remingtonocetus harudiensis, new combination, a Middle Eocene archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from Western Kutch, India
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