Basilosaurus

Basilosaurus is a genus of large, predatory, prehistoric archaeocete whale from the late Eocene, approximately 41.3 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). First described in 1834, it was the first archaeocete and prehistoric whale known to science. Fossils attributed to the type species B. cetoides were discovered in the southeastern United States. The generic name, meaning "king lizard", was given due to the initial misconception about the fossil material as that of a giant reptile. The animal was later found to be an early marine mammal, prompting attempts at renaming the creature, which failed as the rules of zoological nomenclature dictate using the original name given. The second species named in 1904, B. isis, lived in the region currently known as the Mediterranean Sea, with fossils found in North Africa and Jordan.

Basilosaurus

Tim from Washington, D.C., United States of America · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
BasilosauridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Cetacea
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cetacea
Length
20 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At most 64 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 66 Mya and 2.58 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 88 occurrencesPaleocene — about 0 of 88 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 87 of 88 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 88 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 88 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 88 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 88 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–47 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 3 occurrences39–36 Mya — about 27 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 47 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 8 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–7.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–1.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences67 Mya1 Mya

88 occurrences of Basilosaurus on record, most of them in the Eocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

88 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

17 formations

Yazoo — 31.93°N, 88.46°WYazoo — 31.66°N, 92.90°WYazoo — 31.79°N, 88.50°WYazoo — 32.23°N, 89.37°WYazoo — 32.47°N, 90.08°WYazoo — 32.18°N, 89.17°WYazoo — 32.07°N, 88.96°WYazoo — 32.14°N, 89.25°WYazoo — 31.99°N, 88.48°WYazoo — 31.71°N, 87.96°WYazoo — 31.59°N, 87.70°WYazoo — 31.87°N, 88.57°WYazoo — 32.27°N, 89.39°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WYazoo — 31.63°N, 88.31°WYazoo — 31.73°N, 87.89°WYazoo — 31.63°N, 88.23°WYazoo — 31.66°N, 88.22°WYazoo — 31.57°N, 88.04°WYazoo — 32.28°N, 89.49°WYazoo — 31.71°N, 88.36°WYazoo — 32.39°N, 89.48°WYazoo — 32.14°N, 89.05°WBirket Qarun — 29.28°N, 30.04°EBirket Qarun — 29.47°N, 30.42°EBirket Qarun — 29.31°N, 30.15°EBirket Qarun — 29.52°N, 30.63°EBirket Qarun — 29.29°N, 30.06°EOcala — 31.06°N, 87.13°WOcala — 29.14°N, 82.21°WOcala — 29.70°N, 82.60°WOcala — 29.16°N, 82.09°WOcala — 31.58°N, 87.68°WOcala — 31.58°N, 84.16°WOcala — 32.72°N, 84.00°WSamlat — 23.36°N, 16.03°WSamlat — 23.00°N, 16.06°WSamlat — 23.30°N, 16.06°WGehannam — 29.30°N, 30.05°EGehannam — 29.31°N, 30.06°EGehannam — 29.36°N, 30.16°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.52°N, 30.63°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.66°N, 30.74°EMokattam — 28.65°N, 30.83°EMokattam — 28.73°N, 30.92°EDaba'a — 29.16°N, 27.43°EDaba'a — 29.42°N, 26.77°EWadi Esh-Shallala — 31.57°N, 37.12°EAvon Park — 29.01°N, 82.65°WGiushi — 30.03°N, 31.27°ETivola — 32.39°N, 83.68°WTupelo Bay — 33.21°N, 80.45°WAridal — 25.15°N, 13.32°WParkers Ferry — 33.21°N, 80.45°WJackson — 32.47°N, 90.44°WDry Branch — 32.49°N, 83.59°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Basilosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 19 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Basilosaurus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Basilosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

372 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 85 sites for Basilosaurus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

50 references

Each of the 88 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 38 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Basilosaurus

Credit
Tim from Washington, D.C., United States of America
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itBasilosauridae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Harlan 1834