Phoberodon
Extinct genus of cetaceans
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Phoberodon is an extinct genus of archaic odontocete cetacean from the Early Miocene (Burdigalian) of Patagonia, Argentina.
| Phoberodon Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| |
| Holotype skull | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Superfamily: | Platanistoidea |
| Family: | †Squalodontidae |
| Genus: | †Phoberodon Cabrera, 1926 |
| Type species | |
| †Phoberodon arctirostris Cabrera, 1926 | |
| Species | |
| |
Taxonomy and description
Phoberodon was described in 1926 from a partially complete skeleton with a skull (holotype MLP 5-4) lacking the earbones, which was found in the Colhuehuapian Gaiman Formation of Chubut Province, Argentina.[1] Subsequent authors either followed Cabrera (1926) in classifying Phoberodon as a squalodontid, or considered it a relative of Waipatia although the genus was included in any cladistic analysis of archaic odontocetes.[2][3][4][5] However, known specimens lack a periotic, which incorporates most defining synapomorphies of Squalodontidae, and Viglino et al. (2018) recovered Phoberodon as distantly related to Squalodon.[6]
Palaeobiology
Palaeoecology
The morphology of its skull and its enamel ultrastructure both suggest that P. arctirostris was a raptorial feeder.[7]