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Whale Periotic Needs Identification


Harry Pristis

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This smallish odontocete periotic turned up in a box of miscellaneous phosphate mine things.  This was collected decades ago from the Gardinier Mine in Polk County, Florida.  I can't match it with any of the periotics in my drawer.  Perhaps someone here has a match for this fossil.  @Boesse

 

1869462158_whaleperioticA10223.JPG.f0f02f5fe198a107393b47ac2d4c6058.JPG480731993_whaleperioticB10223.JPG.482c41d032edc593e8d14e5a515c0624.JPG 

http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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Hey Harry, this one's easy - this is a squalodelphinid periotic, and a close match for the same morphotype identified from the Pungo River Limestone at the Lee Creek Mine as "Phocageneus" in Lee Creek IV. Small possibility it could be a platanistid like Pomatodelphis, which can be superficially similar, but squalodelphinid is more likely IMO. Here's a few that I just published this summer from the Oligo-Miocene of North Carolina:

 

image.thumb.png.cb0eb12ea041c942c327488fdc6bd58b.png

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41 minutes ago, Boesse said:

Hey Harry, this one's easy - this is a squalodelphinid periotic, and a close match for the same morphotype identified from the Pungo River Limestone at the Lee Creek Mine as "Phocageneus" in Lee Creek IV. Small possibility it could be a platanistid like Pomatodelphis, which can be superficially similar, but squalodelphinid is more likely IMO. Here's a few that I just published this summer from the Oligo-Miocene of North Carolina:

 

You are so good at this, Bobby! . . . an asset to the Forum.  Thank you.

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http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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Thanks Harry! That's hard-earned praise. FYI I'll be finishing a blog post guide to identifying dolphin periotics soon! If you want to check out the intro which goes into the general morphology and internal anatomy (and functional anatomy) of earbones, check this out: https://coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2022/12/bobbys-guide-to-whale-dolphin-earbones.html

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2 hours ago, Boesse said:

this is a squalodelphinid periotic, and a close match for the same morphotype identified from the Pungo River Limestone at the Lee Creek Mine as "Phocageneus" in Lee Creek IV.

Help me out here, Bobby.  What is a squalodelphinid?  Have you erected a new family to account for ambiguity between squalodontid and delphinid features?

I can find no info on "Phocageneus" either.

 

http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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Squalodelphinids are an extinct group of "platanistoid" dolphins closely related to the Platanistidae typically having long snouts, homodont teeth, weird shaped zygomatic processes, facial asymmetry, and large mounds of bone over each orbit. Phocageneus is a poorly known dolphin named by Kellogg in the 1950s based on a partial rostrum and earbones. Other squalodelphinids include Squalodelphis fabianii from the early Miocene of Italy, Notocetus vanbenedeni from Argentina, and Huaridelphis and Macrosqualodelphis from the Chilcatay Formation of Peru.

 

Here's Huaridelphis:

 

image.thumb.png.a561c4a24cffe3b32c3c8d9327bcc0a4.png

image.thumb.png.e4ad0e9b6ecc82962d48a0cc2be3262a.png

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Thank you, Bobby.  I am embarrassed . . . I must have mis-spelled my search terms because now I find a good deal of information beyond your helpful analysis.

I took this from Muizon on Researchgate:

 

E. Squalodelphinidae

  This family includes the genera Notocetus , Medocinia , Phocageneus , and Squalodelphis . The four taxa are based on reasonably well-preserved skulls and/or ear bones. The Squalodelphinidae present the platanistoid synapomorphies of the scapula (loss of the coracoid process, anterior position of the acromion) and of the ear region (e.g., subcircular fossa, articular ridge of the periotic, morphology of the apex of the tympanic; see Muizon 1987, 1994 ).

  The Squalodelphinidae are cosmopolitan and marine. Notocetus is from the early Miocene of South America and New Zealand; Squalodelphis and Medocinia are from the early to middle Miocene of Europe; Phocageneus is from the early Miocene of North America.

  The Squalodelphinidae are medium to large sized odontocetes similar in size to the living Tursiops . The rostrum is of moderate length and slender ( Fig. 5 ). The teeth are more or less homodont: the posterior teeth are single rooted but they are clearly lower and more triangular than the anterior. An interesting characteristic of the Squalodelphinidae is the thickening of the supraorbital region of the skull (maxilla and/or frontal; Fig 5B and D ), reminiscent of the specialized supraorbital morphology of Platanistidae (see later, Fig. 6 ).

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http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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Thanks guys for the info! I've had a fondness about these strange shaped bones for quite awhile. Aquatic and the terrestrial!

 

Great blog info Bobby! I've forgotten how much cool stuff you had out there....

 

Regards, Chris 

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