Kogia pusilla

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Kogia pusilla
Temporal range: Pliocene
↓
Top (left) and underside (right) views of the skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Kogiidae
Genus: Kogia
Species:
†K. pusilla
Binomial name
†Kogia pusilla
Pilleri, 1987

Kogia pusilla is an

seafloor. K. pusilla likely died out due to the ice ages at the end of the Pliocene
.

Taxonomy

Kogiidae
K. pusilla within Kogiidae[1]

The

million years ago (mya). Teeth and periotic bones of the inner ear were also found in the area, possibly belonging to K. pusilla.[2][3]

The skull was first donated to the Museo di Paleontologia of the

species name pusilla is Latin for "small".[2][6][7]

K. pusilla is the third fossil

kogiid whale described, after Praekogia from 1973 and Scaphokogia from 1988, and the third member of the genus Kogia, with the modern day dwarf sperm whale (K. sima) and pygmy sperm whale (K. breviceps).[2] The other two kogiids are Thalassocetus and Nanokogia.[1]

The dwarf and pygmy sperm whales are more

Early Pliocene 5.3 mya.[1]

Description

Museum model of the dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima)

K. pusilla is differentiated from the dwarf and pygmy sperm whales by its more elongated snout, smaller

Physeteridae in contrast to the triangular lacrimal bone of Kogiidae. Like other kogiids, it does not have nasal bones.[2] Thinking it was a beaked whale and using the holotype of Placoziphius for scale, Capellini estimated the length at 1.25 meters (4.1 ft).[4]

Paleoecology

K. pusilla, like the other Kogia, had a blunt snout, likely an adaptation for

niche, squid were probably more abundant in the Mediterranean during the Pliocene than present-day.[1][2]

Paleobiology

Neptune grass
(Posidonia oceanica)

The Rocca locality in Volterra is representative of a

Late Pliocene with the onset of the ice ages.[2]

References

  1. ^
    PMID 25923213
    .
  2. ^
    ISSN 2039-4942
    .
  3. ISSN 0035-6883
    .
  4. ^ a b Capellini, G. (1893). "Nuovi resti di Zifioidi in Calabria e in Toscana" [New Ziphoidea remains in Calabria and Tuscany] (PDF). Rendiconti (in Italian). 2: 283–288.
  5. OCLC 19115575
    .
  6. ^ Bianucci, G. (1997). "The Odontoceti (Mammalia: Cetacea) from Italian Pliocene. The Ziphiidae". Palaeontographia Italica. 84: 1–7.
  7. ^ Cioppi, E. (2014). "I cetacei fossili a Firenze, una storia lunga più di 250 anni" [The fossil cetaceans of Florence, a history of more than 250 years] (PDF). Museologia Scientifica Memorie (in Italian): 81–89.
  8. ^ "Volterra (Pliocene of Italy)". Fossilworks. Gateway to the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  9. ISSN 0753-3969
    .
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kogia_pusilla&oldid=1152004632"