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Protocetidae ✝

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Description

The protocetids form a diverse and heterogeneous group of cetaceans known from Asia, Europe, Africa, South and North America.

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocetidae, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	4832586	https://www.gbif.org/species/4832586
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	42934	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=42934

Rank

family

Taxonomy (GBIF,PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Cetacea : Protocetidae

Taxonomic Status (GBIF)

accepted

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Synapsida	Osborn 1903
-	Therapsida
infraorder	Cynodontia
-	Epicynodontia	Hopson and Kitching 2001
infraorder	Eucynodontia	Kemp 1982
-	Probainognathia	Hopson 1990
-	Mammaliamorpha	Rowe 1988
-	Mammaliaformes	Rowe 1988
class	Mammalia	Linnaeus 1758
order	Cetacea	Brisson 1762
family	Protocetidae	Stromer 1908

Scientific Name

Protocetidae

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	stated without evidence	Stromer, 1908
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	implied	Carroll, 1988
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	stated without evidence	Benton, 1993
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	implied	McKenna and Bell, 1997
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Protocetoidea	stated without evidence	Rice, 1998
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	stated without evidence	Fordyce and de Muizon, 2001
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Cetacea	stated without evidence	Thewissen et al., 2001
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	stated without evidence	Rice, 2002
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Cetacea	stated without evidence	van Vliet, 2004
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Protocetoidea	stated without evidence	Gingerich, 2005
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	stated without evidence	Bianucci and Landini, 2007
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Cetacea	stated without evidence	Uhen and Berndt, 2008
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	stated without evidence	Gingerich et al., 2009
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Protocetoidea	stated without evidence	Rice, 2009
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	stated without evidence	Fitzgerald, 2010
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Cetacea	stated with evidence	Uhen, 2010
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	stated without evidence	Bianucci and Gingerich, 2011
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Cetacea	stated without evidence	Uhen et al., 2011
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	stated without evidence	Gingerich, 2012
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Cetacea	stated without evidence	Godfrey et al., 2013
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	stated without evidence	Hautier et al., 2014
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Cetacea	stated with evidence	Uhen, 2014
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Cetacea	stated without evidence	Bajpai and Thewissen, 2014
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	implied	Gao and Ni, 2015
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	stated without evidence	Gingerich and Zouhri, 2015
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Cetacea	stated with evidence	Marx et al., 2016
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Cetacea	stated without evidence	Berta, 2017
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Archaeoceti	stated without evidence	Gingerich, 2019
Protocetidae	family	belongs to Cetacea	stated with evidence	Gibson et al., 2019

Status (PBDB)

extinct

Taxon Size (PBDB)

First Recorded Appearance

48.6 - 41.3 Ma
Eocene

Last Recorded Appearance

38.0 - 33.9 Ma
Paleogene

Environment

marine (based on Cetacea)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Cetacea)

Diet

carnivore (based on Cetacea)

Reproduction

viviparous (based on Cetacea)

Ontogeny

modification of parts (based on Cetacea)

Taphonomy

hydroxylapatite (based on Cetacea)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

E. Stromer. 1908. Die Archaeoceti des Agyptischen Eozans. Beitrage zur Paleotologie un Geologie Osterreich-Ungarns un des Orients 21:108-177

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocetidae

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Georgiacetinae ✝ subfamily	listed (PBDB)	2	38.0 Ma Eocene	38.0 Ma Eocene
Indocetinae ✝ subfamily	listed (PBDB)
Makaracetinae ✝ subfamily	listed (PBDB)
Pappocetinae ✝ subfamily	listed (PBDB)
Protocetinae ✝ subfamily	listed (PBDB)
Aegyptocetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	41.3 Ma Eocene	41.3 Ma Eocene
Artiocetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Babiacetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	3	47.8 Ma Eocene	41.3 Ma Eocene
Carolinacetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	3	47.8 Ma Eocene	41.3 Ma Eocene
Crenatocetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	48.6 Ma Eocene	48.6 Ma Eocene
Dhedacetus ✝ genus	doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Eocetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	2	41.3 Ma Eocene	41.3 Ma Eocene
Gaviacetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Georgiacetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	4	47.8 Ma Eocene	41.3 Ma Eocene
Indocetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	3	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Kharodacetus ✝ genus	doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	2	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Maiacetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Makaracetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Natchitochia ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	2	41.3 Ma Eocene	41.3 Ma Eocene
Pakicetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	8	56.0 Ma Paleocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Pappocetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	5	41.3 Ma Eocene	41.3 Ma Eocene
Peregocetus ✝ genus	listed (PBDB)	1	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Protocetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Qaisracetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	2	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Rodhocetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	4	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Takracetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Togocetus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	2	47.8 Ma Eocene	47.8 Ma Eocene
Tupelocetus ✝ genus	listed (PBDB)	1	41.3 Ma Eocene	41.3 Ma Eocene

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1908	Protocetidae Stromer p. 148
1914	Protocetidae Abel p. 220
1923	Protocetidae Miller p. 40
1928	Protocetidae Kellogg p. 32 figs. Table 1
1936	Protocetidae Kellogg p. 231
1936	Protocetidae Slijper p. 540
1945	Protocetidae Simpson p. 100
1985	Protocetidae Barnes et al. p. 25
1985	Protocetidae Kumar and Sahni p. 166
1988	Protocetidae Carroll
1993	Protocetidae Benton p. 761
1994	Protocetidae Fordyce and Barnes p. 428
1995	Protocetidae Fordyce et al. p. 379
1997	Protocetidae McKenna and Bell p. 369
1998	Protocetidae Rice
2001	Protocetidae Fordyce and de Muizon p. 176
2001	Protocetidae Thewissen et al. p. 351 figs. Table 1
2001	Protocetidae Uhen p. 135
2002	Protocetidae Rice p. 231 figs. Table 1
2003	Protocetidae Fordyce p. 156 figs. Figure 9.1
2003	Protocetidae Geisler and Sanders p. 27
2004	Protocetidae van Vliet p. 143
2005	Protocetidae Gingerich p. 237 figs. Table 15.1

Year	Name and Author
2007	Protocetidae Bianucci and Landini p. 45 figs. Table 2.1
2008	Protocetidae McLeod and Barnes p. 74
2008	Protocetidae Uhen p. 559
2008	Protocetidae Uhen and Berndt p. 57
2009	Protocetidae Gingerich et al. p. 3
2009	Protocetidae Rice p. 235 figs. Table 1
2010	Protocetidae Fitzgerald p. 370 figs. Table 1
2010	Protocetidae Uhen p. 203 figs. Figure 1
2011	Protocetidae Bianucci and Gingerich p. 1175
2011	Protocetidae Uhen et al. p. 957
2012	Protocetidae Gingerich p. 313 figs. Figure 4
2013	Protocetidae Godfrey et al. p. 257
2014	Protocetidae Bajpai and Thewissen p. 2
2014	Protocetidae Gingerich and Cappetta p. 111
2014	Protocetidae Hautier et al. p. e2
2014	Protocetidae Uhen p. 1030
2015	Protocetidae Gao and Ni p. 156 figs. Table 1
2015	Protocetidae Gingerich and Zouhri p. 276
2016	Protocetidae Marx et al. p. 98
2017	Protocetidae Berta p. 159
2019	Protocetidae Gibson et al.
2019	Protocetidae Gingerich p. 5
2019	Protocetidae Lambert et al. p. 1

References

Stromer E. (1908) Die Archaeoceti des Agyptischen Eozans, Beitrage zur Paleotologie un Geologie Osterreich-Ungarns un des Orients 21, 108-177

Abel O. (1914) Die vorfahren der bartenwale, Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse 90, 155-224

Miller G. S. (1923) The telescoping of the cetacean skull, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 76 5, 1-70

Kellogg R. (1936) A Review of the Archaeoceti, Carnegie Institution of Washington 482, 1-366

Slijper E. J. (1936) Die Cetaceen, Capita Zoologica 7, 1-590

Simpson G. G. (1945) The principles of classification and a classification of mammals, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 85, 1-350

Kumar K., Sahni A. (1985) Eocene mammals from the upper Subathu Group, Kashmir Himalaya, India, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 5 2, 153-168

Carroll R. L. (1988) , Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, 1-698

Benton M. J. (1993) , The Fossil Record 2, 1-845

McKenna M. C., Bell S. K. (1997) , Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level, 1-640

Rice D. W. (1998) Marine Mammals of the World: Systematics and Distribution, The Society for Marine Mammalogy Special Publication 4, 1-231

Fordyce R. E., de Muizon C. (2001) Evolutionary history of the cetaceans: a review, Secondary Adaptations of Tetrapods to Life in the Water, 169-233

Thewissen J. G. M., Williams E. M., et al (2001) Eocene mammal faunas from northern Indo-Pakistan, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21 2, 347-366

Uhen M. D. (2001) New material of Eocetus wardii (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the middle Eocene of North Carolina, Southeastern Geology 40 2, 135-148

van Vliet H. J. (2004) Wadi Hitan, het dal der walvissen over oerwalvissen in Egypte en de evolutie der walvissen, Grondboor & Hamer 6, 141-147

McLeod S. A., Barnes L. G. (2008) A new genus and species of Eocene protocetid archaeocete whale (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Atlantic Coastal plain, Science Series, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County 41, 73-98

Uhen M. D., Berndt H.-J. (2008) First record of the archaeocete whale family Protocetidae from Europe, The Fossil Record 11 2, 57-60 doi:10.1002/mmng.200800001

Gingerich P. D., al-Haq M., et al (2009) New protocetid whale from the Middle Eocene of Pakistan: Birth on land, precocial development, and sexual dimorphism, PLoS One 4 2, 1-20

Fitzgerald E. M. G. (2010) The morphology and systematics of Mammalodon colliveri (Cetacea: Mysticeti), a toothed mysticete from the Oligocene of Australia, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158, 367-476

Bianucci G., Gingerich P. D. (2011) Aegyptocetus tarfa, n. gen. et sp. (Mammalia, Cetacea), from the middle Eocene of Egypt: clinorhynchy, olfaction, and hearing in a protocetid whale, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31 6, 1173-1188

Uhen M. D., Pyenson N. D., et al (2011) New middle Eocene whales from the Pisco Basin of Peru, Journal of Paleontology 85 5, 955-969 doi:10.1666/10-162.1

Gingerich P. D. (2012) Evolution of whales from land to sea, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 156 3, 309-323

Godfrey S. J., Geisler J., et al (2013) On the Olfactory Anatomy in an Archaic Whale (Protocetidae, Cetacea) and the Minke Whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata (Balaenopteridae, Cetacea), The Anatomical Record 296, 257-272 doi:10.1002/ar.22637

Bajpai S., Thewissen J. G. M. (2014) Protocetid cetaceans (Mammalia) from the Eocene of India, Palaeontologia Electronica 17 3, 34A

Gingerich P. D., Cappetta H. (2014) A new archaeocete and other marine mammals (Cetacea and Sirenia) from lower middle Eocene phosphate deposits of Togo, Journal of Paleontology 88 1, 109-129 doi:10.1666/13-040

Uhen M. D. (2014) New material of Natchitochia jonesi and a comparison of the innominata and locomotor capabilities of Protocetidae, Marine Mammal Science 30 3, 1029-1066 doi:10.1111/mms.12100

Gingerich P. D., Zouhri S. (2015) New fauna of archaeocete whales (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Bartonian middle Eocene of southern Morocco, Journal of African Earth Sciences 111, 273-286 doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.08.006

Marx F. G., Lambert O., et al (2016) Cetacean Paleobiology, 1-319

Berta A. (2017) , The Rise of Marine Mammals: 50 Million Years of Evolution, 1-198

Gibson M. L., Mnieckowski J., et al (2019) Tupelocetus palmeri, a new species of protocetid whale (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the middle Eocene of South Carolina, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, e1555165 doi:10.1080/02724634.2018.1555165

Gingerich P. D. (2019) Aegicetus gehennae, a new late Eocene protocetid (Cetacea, Archaeoceti) from Wadi Al Hitan, Egypt, and the transition to tail- powered swimming in whales, PLoS Once 14 12, e0225391 doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0225391

Lambert O., Bianucci G., et al (2019) An Amphibious Whale from the Middle Eocene of Peru Reveals Early South Pacific Dispersal of Quadrupedal Cetaceans, Current Biology 29, 1-8 doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.050

Benton (1993) (terrestrial) - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Benton, M.J. (ed). (1993). The Fossil Record 2. Chapman & Hall, London, 845 pp. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Gingerich et al., 2009 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

SN2000: Brands, S. J. (compiler) 1989-2005. Systema Naturae 2000. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2006 version). Available online at http://sn2000.taxonomy.nl/. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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