Notocetus Temporal range: Early Miocene
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Infraorder: | Cetacea |
Family: | †Squalodelphinidae |
Genus: | †Notocetus Moreno, 1892 |
Species: | †N. vanbenedeni
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Binomial name | |
†Notocetus vanbenedeni Moreno, 1892
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Synonyms | |
Notocetus is an extinct genus of river dolphin belonging to Squalodelphinidae. Known specimens have been found in Early Miocene marine deposits from Argentina, Italy and Peru.[1][2]
Notocetus was unnecessarily given the replacement name Diochoticus by Ameghino (1894) on the false assumption that Notocetus was preoccupied by Notiocetus. Lydekker (1894), meanwhile, erected Argyrodelphis for the same specimen.[3][4] The type species of Otekaikea was once considered a species of Notocetus before being recognized as belonging to Waipatiidae.[5][6]
Fossils of Notocetus have been found in:[7]