Inticetus
Extinct genus of mammals
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Inticetus is an extinct genus of Early Miocene odontocete from the Chilcatay Formation, Pisco Basin, Peru.
| Inticetus Temporal range: Early Miocene ~ | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Parvorder: | Odontoceti |
| Family: | †Inticetidae |
| Genus: | †Inticetus Lambert et al. 2017 |
| Species | |
| |
Description
Inticetus is distinguished from other archaic heterodont odontocetes by the following features: long and robust rostrum bearing at least 18 teeth per quadrant; the absence of procumbent anterior teeth; many large, broad-based accessory denticles in double-rooted posterior cheek teeth; a reduced ornament of dental crowns; the styliform process of the jugal being markedly robust; a large fovea epitubaria on the periotic, with a correspondingly voluminous accessory ossicle of the tympanic bulla; and a shortened tuberculum of the malleus.[1]
Classification
Inticetus was judged by Lambert et al. to be sufficiently distinct from other archaic heterodont odontocetes to be placed in a new family, Inticetidae. The authors recovered it as either outside crown Odontoceti or as an early-branching member of Platanistoidea.
Phococetus, previously assigned to Kekenodontidae, is apparently a relative of Inticetus.[2]
