Chonecetus

Chonecetus is an extinct genus of primitive baleen whale of the family Aetiocetidae that lived in the Oligocene period. Its fossils have been found in Canada, in the northeast Pacific. It was first named by L.S. Russell in 1968, and contains one species, C. sookensis.

No picture of Chonecetus was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Chonecetus, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AetiocetidaePBDB
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 most 4.3 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 27.3 Mya and 23.04 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Oligocene — about 3 of 3 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 3 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27.8 Mya22.5 Mya

3 occurrences of Chonecetus on record, most of them in the Oligocene. 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

3 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

3 formations

Sooke — 48.60°N, 124.72°WMorawan — 43.30°N, 143.77°EEl Cien — 24.41°N, 110.70°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Chonecetus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Chonecetus and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Chonecetus and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

4 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Chonecetus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

3 references

Each of the 3 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content0

No picture of Chonecetus was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Chonecetus, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Chonecetus was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itAetiocetidae through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Russell 1968