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Cranial anatomy of middle Eocene Remingtonocetus (Cetacea, Mammalia) from Kutch, India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

S. Bajpai ,
J. G. M. Thewissen  and
R. W. Conley
S. Bajpai
Affiliation:
1Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 247667, India
J. G. M. Thewissen
Affiliation:
2Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown, OH 44272, USA,
R. W. Conley
Affiliation:
2Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown, OH 44272, USA,
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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.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 85 , Issue 4 , July 2011 , pp. 703 - 718
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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