| Ichthyolestes Temporal range: Early Eocene, circa
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| Ichthyolestes life restoration, pencil drawing. | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Pakicetidae |
| Genus: | †Ichthyolestes Dehm & Oettingen-Spielberg 1958 |
| Type species | |
| †Ichthyolestes pinfoldi | |
Ichthyolestes ("fish thief") is an extinct genus of archaic cetacean that was endemic to Indo-Pakistan during the Lutetian stage.[1] To date, this monotypic genus is only represented by Ichthyolestes pinfoldi.[1]
Like other members of the family Pakicetidae, which are considered the earliest and least specialized of the archaic cetaceans,[2] Ichthyolestes represents an early quadrupedal phase of the land-to-sea transition which occurs in the cetacean lineage.[3][4]
- ^ a b Dehm, R.; zu Oettingen-Spielberg, T. (1958). Paläontologische und geologische Untersuchungen im Tertiär von Pakistan. 2. Die mitteleocänen Säugetiere von Ganda Kas bei Basal in Nordwest-Pakistan (PDF). Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, Abhandlungen, Neue Folge. Vol. 91. Munich: C. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung.
- ^ Madar, S. (2007). "The postcranial skeleton of early Eocene Pakicetid cetaceans". Journal of Paleontology. 81 (1): 176–200. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2007)81[176:TPSOEE]2.0.CO;2.
- ^ Nummela, S.; Hussain, S. T.; Thewissen, J. G. M. (2006). "Cranial anatomy of Pakicetidae (Cetacea, Mammalia)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 26 (3): 746–759. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[746:CAOPCM]2.0.CO;2.
- ^ Thewissen, J. G. M.; Williams, E. M. (2002). "The early radiation of Cetacea (Mammalia): Evolutionary pattern and development correlations". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 33: 73–90. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.33.020602.095426.