Albicetus Temporal range: Langhian
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Reconstruction of skull | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Infraorder: | Cetacea |
Genus: | †Albicetus Boersma & Pyenson, 2015[2] |
Species: | †A. oxymycterus
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Binomial name | |
†Albicetus oxymycterus (Kellogg, 1925)[1]
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Synonyms | |
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Albicetus is a genus of stem-sperm whales that lived during the Miocene Epoch, around 15 million years ago, and was discovered in Santa Barbara, California in 1909. It was categorized for decades as belonging to a group of extinct walruses erroneously thought to be sperm whales. It was named Albicetus, meaning "white whale", is a reference to the leviathan in Herman Melville's classic 1851 novel Moby-Dick.[2][3]
Kellog
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).