Cephalotropis
Extinct genus of mammals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cephalotropis is a genus of baleen whale belonging to the extinct family Cetotheriidae. Its type species is Cephalotropis coronatus.
| Cephalotropis Temporal range: Miocene, | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | Cetotheriidae |
| Genus: | †Cephalotropis Cope, 1896 |
| Species | |
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†C. coronatus Cope, 1896 (type) | |
Description
Cephalotropis is diagnosed by the following features: a long sagittal crest, a more anteriorly produced angle of the supraoccipital angle, among other features.[1] There is insufficient information to determine how big Cephalotropis was, but it probably grew to about 16–20 feet long.
Taxonomy
Cephalotropis coronatus was originally described from the Late Miocene (Tortonian) St. Mary's Formation of St. Mary's Formation, Maryland, based on the holotype USNM 9352.[2] A second species of the genus, C. nectus, was named for a specimen from a Tortonian-aged formation in Portugal,[3] but is now considered a junior synonym of C. coronatus.[4]