Aglaocetus
Extinct genus of mammals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aglaocetus is a genus of extinct baleen whales known from the Miocene of Patagonia, the US Eastern Seaboard, Japan and the Low Countries. It was once considered a member of Cetotheriidae along with many other putative cetotheres, but was recently recognized as representing a distinct family from true Cetotheriidae.
| Aglaocetus Temporal range: Early-Late Miocene ~ | |
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| A. moreni skull | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Superfamily: | Balaenopteroidea |
| Family: | †Aglaocetidae Steeman 2007 |
| Genus: | †Aglaocetus Kellogg 1934 |
| Species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Species
There are three currently recognized valid species: Aglaocetus moreni, A. latifrons, and A. rotundus.[1][2][3]
The type species, Aglaocetus moreni, was originally described as a species of Cetotherium, but later recognized as generically distinct from the latter.[4] "Aglaocetus" patulus, described from the Calvert Formation by Remington Kellogg in 1968,[5] was recovered by Bisconti et al. (2013) in a different phylogenetic position than the Aglaocetus type species.[6] In 2020, A. patulus was renamed Atlanticetus.[7]
Distribution
Fossils of Aglaocetus have been found in:[8]
- Miocene
- Gaimán Formation (Colhuehuapian-Santacrucian), Argentina
- Diest and Berchem Formations, Belgium
- Eibergen Member, Netherlands
