Xenorophus
Extinct genus of mammals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Xenorophus is a genus of primitive odontocete from late Oligocene (Chattian) marine deposits in South Carolina. It belongs to the Xenorophidae.
| Xenorophus Temporal range: Late Oligocene, | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Xenorophidae |
| Genus: | †Xenorophus Kellogg, 1923 |
| Species | |
|
X. sloanii Kellogg, 1923 | |
Classification
Xenorophus was originally described on the basis of a skull from the Chandler Bridge Formation of South Carolina in the collections of the USNM.[1] Later authors, but also Remington Kellogg who described the genus, classified it in the family Agorophiidae, which eventually became a repository for primitive odontocetes. Whitmore and Sanders (1977) and Fordyce (1981), however, preferred to treat Xenorophus as Odontoceti incertae sedis.[2][3][4][5] A cladistic analysis by Mark Uhen published in 2008 recognized Xenorophus as belonging with Archaeodelphis and Albertodelphis in an odontocete clade more primitive than Agorophius or Simocetus, and named it Xenorophidae.[6]
Paleobiology
Xenorophus was capable of echolocation like modern dolphins, judging from the cranial features of two other xenorophids, Echovenator and Cotylocara[7][8] and from the shape of its own skull.[9] It had an estimated body length of 2.6 to 3 metres (8 ft 6 in to 9 ft 10 in).[9]