Olympicetus (meaning Olympic cetacean) is an extinct genus of small simocetid toothed whales that lived during the Oligocene epoch in what is now the coasts of Washington, about 33.7 million to 26.5 million years ago. The type species is Olympicetus avitus, known from the littoral Pysht Formation and described in 2017.[1] A second species, Olympicetus thalassodon, was named in 2023 and it is also known from this formation.[2]
| Olympicetus | |
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| Holotype skull of O. thalassodon | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Parvorder: | Odontoceti |
| Genus: | †Olympicetus Velez-Juarbe 2017 |
| Type species | |
| †Olympicetus avitus Velez-Juarbe 2017
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| Other species | |
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See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Velez-Juarbe, J. (2017). "A new stem odontocete from the late Oligocene Pysht Formation in Washington State, U.S.A.". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 37 (5): e1366916. Bibcode:2017JVPal..37E6916V. doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1366916. S2CID 90151706.
- ^ Velez-Juarbe, J. (2023). "New heterodont odontocetes from the Oligocene Pysht Formation in Washington State, U.S.A., and a reevaluation of Simocetidae (Cetacea, Odontoceti)". PeerJ. 11: e15576. doi:10.7717/peerj.15576. PMC 10292202. PMID 37377790.
External links
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Media related to Olympicetus at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Olympicetus at Wikispecies
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