Idiocetus
Extinct genus of mammals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Idiocetus ("unique whale") is a genus of extinct cetaceans of the family Balaenidae.[2]
| Idiocetus Temporal range: | |
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| Atlas of I. guicciardinii, from Italy | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | Balaenidae |
| Genus: | †Idiocetus Capellini 1876[1] |
| Species | |
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Discovery
Fossils belonging to this genus were first found in Piacenzian (Upper Pliocene) strata near Montopoli in Val d'Arno, a town in Tuscany (central Italy). The Italian paleontologist Giovanni Capellini described the whale in 1876 and attributed it to a new genus and species, establishing the type species Idiocetus guicciardinii. Some decades later, in 1926, other fossil remains possibly belonging to the genus were discovered from the Tortonian (Upper Miocene) of Japan.[3]
