Arktocara yakataga Boersma & Pyenson, 2016
Mammalia
Cetartiodactyla
Cetacea
Odontoceti
Platanistoidea
Allodelphinidae
Late Oligocene
Poul Creek F
Alaska, US
Length: 2 m
This extinct dolphin is solely known from a skull fragment recently discovered in the Collection of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The long forgotten 20 cm long fossil was collected in 1951 during a mission of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in southeastern Alaska. It was a relative of the modern Ganges and Indus river dolphins, which are the only surviving members of an once thriving group. Unlike their modern counterparts, Arktocara lived in marine environments.
References:
Boersma AT, Pyenson ND. (2016) Arktocara yakataga, a new fossil odontocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Alaska and the antiquity of Platanistoidea. PeerJ 4:e2321
August 18, 2016
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