Pakicetus

Not to be confused with Pachycetus.

Pakicetus
Temporal range: Eocene (Ypresian), 50–48 Ma
↓
[1][2]
Cast of P. attocki, Canadian Museum of Nature
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: †Pakicetidae
Genus: †Pakicetus
Gingerich & Russell 1981
Type species
†Pakicetus inachus
Species

Pakicetus is an extinct genus of amphibious cetacean of the family Pakicetidae, which was endemic to Indian Subcontinent during the Ypresian (early Eocene) period, about 50 million years ago.[2] It was a wolf-like mammal,[3] about 1–2 m (3 ft 3 in – 6 ft 7 in) long,[4] and lived in and around water where it ate fish and other animals. The name Pakicetus comes from the fact that the first fossils of this extinct amphibious whale were discovered in Pakistan. The vast majority of paleontologists regard it as the most basal whale, representing a transitional stage between land mammals and whales. It belongs to the even-toed ungulates with the closest living non-cetacean relative being the hippopotamus.[3]

  1. ^ Bajpai, S.; Gingerich, P. D. (22 December 1998). "A new Eocene archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from India and the time of origin of whales". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 95 (26): 15464–15468. Bibcode:1998PNAS...9515464B. doi:10.1073/pnas.95.26.15464. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 28065. PMID 9860991.
  2. ^ a b Thewissen et al. 2009.
  3. ^ a b Black, Riley (1 December 2010). "How Did Whales Evolve?". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on 2014-03-10. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference nyit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).