Toipahautea
Extinct genus of whales
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Toipahautea is a genus of baleen whale from the Late Oligocene (Chattian) Kokoamu Greensand of New Zealand.
| Toipahautea Temporal range: Late Oligocene, | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Placentalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Parvorder: | Mysticeti |
| Genus: | †Toipahautea Tsai and Fordyce, 2018 |
| Type species | |
| Toipahautea waitaki Tsai and Fordyce, 2018 | |
Classification
Phylogenetic analysis recovers Toipahautea outside crown Mysticeti but more derived than Eomysticetidae, like Horopeta and Whakakai.[1]
Description
Diagnostic features of Toipahautea include: massive periotic; well-developed superior process of the periotic; prominent elongation of dorsomedial margin of the internal acoustic meatus; prominent fissure between the fenestra rotunda and the aperture for the cochlear aqueduct; small medial posterior sulcus; the presence of the anteroexternal foramen; the presence of the sigmoidal cavity; the presence of the elliptical foramen; horizontal sigmoidal cleft far anterior than the anterior margin of the sigmoidal process; posteromedial margin of the bulla orienting slightly anteromedially.
