Kentriodon
Extinct genus of mammals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kentriodon is an extinct genus of toothed whale related to modern-day dolphins. Fossils have been found in North America, Europe and Japan.[1] Several species have been described.
| Kentriodon Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
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| K. pernix skeleton | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Kentriodontidae |
| Genus: | †Kentriodon Kellogg, 1927 |
| Species[1] | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Description
Kentriodon was the most diverse of all the kentriodontids, which are represented by seventeen described genera. These were small to medium-sized odontocetes with largely symmetrical skulls, and thought likely to include ancestors of some modern species.[citation needed] Kentriodon is also the oldest described kentriodontid genus, reported from the Late Oligocene to the Middle Miocene.
Kentriodontines ate small fish and other nectonic organisms; they are thought to have been active echolocators, and might have formed pods. The diversity, morphology and distribution of fossils appear parallel to some modern species.[citation needed]
Species
- Kentriodon pernix Kellogg, 1927 (type)[2]
- Kentriodon fuchsii (Brandt, 1873)[3]
- Kentriodon hobetsu Ichishima, 1995[4]
- Kentriodon obscurus (Kellogg, 1931)[5]
- Kentriodon schneideri Whitmore and Kaltenbach, 2008[6]
- Kentriodon diusinus Salinas-Márquez, Barnes, Flores-Trujillo, Aranda-Manteca, 2014[7]
- Kentriodon hoepfneri Kazár & Hampe, 2014[8]
- Kentriodon nakajimai Kimura & Hasegawa, 2019[9]
- Kentriodon sugawarai Guo & Kohno, 2021[1]
