Cetotherium

Cetotherium is an extinct genus of baleen whales from the family Cetotheriidae. It was a relatively small whale with an estimated total length of 3–4 metres (9.8–13.1 ft).

Cetotherium

Pavel Gol’din, Dmitry Startsev, and Tatiana Krakhmalnaya · CC BY 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
CetotheriinaePBDB
Diet
carnivore, suspension feederPBDB, for Mysticeti
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Mysticeti
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mysticeti

Time the record covers

At least 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 1.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 20.45 Mya to 774 ka.

Miocene — about 23 of 31 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 31 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 31 occurrencesPleistocene21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences18–18 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–9.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.9–9.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.2–8.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.5–7.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.9–7.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.2–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–5.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.8–5.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences5.1–4.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.4–3.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.7–3.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.0–2.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.3–1.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.7–963 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences963 ka–274 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15.98 Mya1.8 Mya20.9 Mya274 ka

31 occurrences of Cetotherium on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

31 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

8 formations

St Marys — 38.36°N, 76.39°WSt Marys — 38.33°N, 76.43°WYorktown — 35.93°N, 77.57°WYorktown — 37.29°N, 77.30°WVaqueros — 36.02°N, 120.54°WChoptank — 38.47°N, 76.48°WCalvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WBurgeschleinitz — 48.68°N, 15.77°EChersonian — 46.97°N, 31.99°EBlinovo — 45.27°N, 36.38°E

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The named rock units Cetotherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 20 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cetotherium and its relatives

Miocene

Where Cetotherium and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

223 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 26 sites for Cetotherium, 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

21 references

Each of the 31 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. 9 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 Cetotherium

Credit
Pavel Gol’din, Dmitry Startsev, and Tatiana Krakhmalnaya
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itCetotheriinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Brandt 1843