Gandakasia

Gandakasia
Temporal range: 47.8–41.2 Ma Lutetian[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Ambulocetidae
Genus: Gandakasia
Dehm & Oettingen-Spielberg, 1958
Species:
G. potens
Binomial name
Gandakasia potens
Dehm & Oettingen-Spielberg, 1958[2]

Gandakasia is an extinct genus of ambulocetid from Pakistan, that lived in the Eocene epoch. It probably caught its prey near rivers or streams.

Just like Himalayacetus, Gandakasia is only known from a single jaw fragment, making comparisons to other ambulocetids difficult.[3]

The first ambulocetid to be described, Gandakasia was not initially recognized as a cetacean.[4]

Gandakasia probably inhabited a freshwater niche similar to the pakicetids.[3]

  1. ^ Thewissen, J. G. M., ed. (1998). The Emergence of Whales. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-0159-0. ISBN 978-1-4899-0161-3. S2CID 30660655.
  2. ^ Dehm, R.; Oettingen-Spielberg, T. (1958). Die mitteleocänen Säugetiere von Ganda Kas bei Basal in Nordwest-Pakistan [The Middle Eocene mammals of Ganda Kas near Basal in northwestern Pakistan] (in German). Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
  3. ^ a b Cooper, Lisa Noelle; Thewissen, J. G.M.; Hussain, S. T. (2009). "New middle Eocene archaeocetes (Cetacea: Mammalia) from the Kuldana Formation of northern Pakistan". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29 (4): 1289–1299. Bibcode:2009JVPal..29.1289C. doi:10.1671/039.029.0423. S2CID 84127292.
  4. ^ Ando, Konami; Fujiwara, Shin-Ichi (2016). "Farewell to life on land – thoracic strength as a new indicator to determine paleoecology in secondary aquatic mammals". Journal of Anatomy. 229 (6): 768–777. doi:10.1111/joa.12518. PMC 5108153. PMID 27396988.