Nannocetus

Nannocetus is an extinct baleen whale belonging to the family Cetotheriidae.

Nannocetus

via iDigBio · via iDigBio. 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
HerpetocetinaePBDB
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 1.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 5.333 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 15.98 Mya to 3.6 Mya.

Miocene — about 6 of 7 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 7 occurrencesPliocene16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.8–9.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.5–8.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.0–7.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.6–7.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.1–6.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.7–6.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.2–5.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.8–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.0–3.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.246 Mya5.333 Mya16.5 Mya3.1 Mya

7 occurrences of Nannocetus 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

7 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

5 formations

San Mateo — 33.20°N, 117.37°WSanta Margarita — 37.00°N, 122.00°WTowsley — 34.40°N, 118.45°WTorgugas — 27.15°N, 114.30°WMonterey — 33.56°N, 117.71°W

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

Nannocetus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Nannocetus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

108 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Nannocetus, 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

6 references

Each of the 7 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 the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Nannocetus

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itHerpetocetinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Kellogg 1929