Xenorophus

Xenorophus is a genus of primitive odontocete from late Oligocene (Chattian) marine deposits in South Carolina belonging to Xenorophidae.

Xenorophus
Temporal range: Late Oligocene, 28.4–23.0 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: †Xenorophidae
Genus: †Xenorophus
Kellogg, 1923
Type species
Xenorophus sloani
Kellogg, 1923

Classification

Xenorophus was originally described on the basis of a skull from the Chandler Bridge Formation of South Carolina in the collections of the USNM.[1] Later authors, but also Remington Kellogg who described the genus, classified it in the family Agorophiidae, which eventually became a repository for primitive odontocetes. Whitmore and Sanders (1977) and Fordyce (1981), however, preferred to treat Xenorophus as Odontoceti incertae sedis.[2][3][4][5] A cladistic analysis by Mark Uhen published in 2008 recognized Xenorophus as belonging with Archaeodelphis and Albertodelphis in an odontocete clade more primitive than Agorophius or Simocetus, and named it Xenorophidae.[6]

Paleobiology

Xenorophus was capable of echolocation like modern dolphins, judging from the cranial features of two other xenorophids, Echovenator and Cotylocara.[7][8]

References
  1. R. Kellogg. 1923. Description of an apparently new toothed cetacean from South Carolina. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 76(7):1-7
  2. R. Kellogg. 1928. The History of Whales - Their Adaptation to Life in the Water. The Quarterlty Review of Biology 3(1):29-76.
  3. F. C. Whitmore and A. E. Sanders. 1977. Review of the Oligocene Cetacea. Systematic Zoology 25:304-320.
  4. R. E. Fordyce. 1981. Systematics of the odontocete whale Agorophius pygmaeus and the Family Agorophiidae (Mammalia: Cetacea). Journal of Paleontology 55(5):1028-1045.
  5. G. G. Simpson. 1945. The principles of classification and a classification of mammals. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 85:1-350.
  6. M. D. Uhen. 2008. A new Xenorophus-like odontocete cetacean form the Oligocene of North Carolina and a discussion of the basal odontocete radiation. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 6(4):433-452.
  7. Jonathan H. Geisler, Matthew W. Colbert, James L. Carew. A new fossil species supports an early origin for toothed whale echolocation. Nature, 2014; DOI: 10.1038/nature13086
  8. Morgan Churchill; Manuel Martinez-Caceres; Christian de Muizon; Jessica Mnieckowski; Jonathan H. Geisler (2016). "The Origin of High-Frequency Hearing in Whales". Current Biology. in press. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.06.004.
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