Simocetus
Encyclopedia
Simocetus is an extinct genus of toothed whale
that lived 30 million years ago, in the Oligocene
period. It is known from a single fossil, a skull
, found in marine siltstone deposits of the Alsea Formation on the banks of Oregon
's Yaquina River
in 1977 by fossil hunter of the region, Douglas Emlong
. It was first named by New Zealand
paleontologist Ewan Fordyce in 2002 and contains a single species, S. rayi. He found its teeth and jaw different than any other known whale's, and thought it might have been a bottom feeder that fed by suction on marine invertebrates. Features of the basicranium and face suggest that Simocetus may have had comparable echolocation abilities to modern whales.
Toothed whale
The toothed whales form a suborder of the cetaceans, including sperm whales, beaked whales, dolphins, and others. As the name suggests, the suborder is characterized by the presence of teeth rather than the baleen of other whales.-Anatomy:Toothed whales have a single blowhole on the top of the head...
that lived 30 million years ago, in the Oligocene
Oligocene
The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...
period. It is known from a single fossil, a skull
Skull
The skull is a bony structure in the head of many animals that supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. A skull without a mandible is only a cranium. Animals that have skulls are called craniates...
, found in marine siltstone deposits of the Alsea Formation on the banks of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
's Yaquina River
Yaquina River
The Yaquina River is a river, approximately 50 mi long, on the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of the Central Oregon Coast Range west of the Willamette Valley near Newport....
in 1977 by fossil hunter of the region, Douglas Emlong
Douglas Emlong
Douglas Ralph Emlong was an amateur fossil collector from the Oregon Coast in the northwestern United States. His collections contributed to the discovery and description of numerous extinct marine mammal species, many of which are ancestral to extant groups...
. It was first named by New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
paleontologist Ewan Fordyce in 2002 and contains a single species, S. rayi. He found its teeth and jaw different than any other known whale's, and thought it might have been a bottom feeder that fed by suction on marine invertebrates. Features of the basicranium and face suggest that Simocetus may have had comparable echolocation abilities to modern whales.