Gandakasia is an extinct genus of ambulocetid from Pakistan, that lived in the Eocene epoch. It probably caught its prey near rivers or streams.
Gandakasia | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Infraorder: | Cetacea |
Family: | †Ambulocetidae |
Genus: | †Gandakasia Dehm & Oettingen-Spielberg, 1958 |
Species: | †G. potens
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Binomial name | |
†Gandakasia potens Dehm & Oettingen-Spielberg, 1958[2]
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Just like Himalayacetus, Gandakasia is only known from a single jaw fragment, making comparisons to other ambulocetids difficult.[3]
The first ambulocetid to be described, Gandakasia was not initially recognized as a cetacean.[4]
Gandakasia probably inhabited a freshwater niche similar to the pakicetids.[3]
References
edit- ^ Thewissen, J. G. M., ed. (1998). The Emergence of Whales. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-0159-0. ISBN 978-1-4899-0161-3. S2CID 30660655.
- ^ Dehm, R.; Oettingen-Spielberg, T. (1958). Die mitteleocänen Säugetiere von Ganda Kas bei Basal in Nordwest-Pakistan [The Middle Eocene mammals of Ganda Kas near Basal in northwestern Pakistan] (in German). Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
- ^ a b Cooper, Lisa Noelle; Thewissen, J. G.M.; Hussain, S. T. (2009). "New middle Eocene archaeocetes (Cetacea: Mammalia) from the Kuldana Formation of northern Pakistan". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29 (4): 1289–1299. Bibcode:2009JVPal..29.1289C. doi:10.1671/039.029.0423. S2CID 84127292.
- ^ Ando, Konami; Fujiwara, Shin-Ichi (2016). "Farewell to life on land – thoracic strength as a new indicator to determine paleoecology in secondary aquatic mammals". Journal of Anatomy. 229 (6): 768–777. doi:10.1111/joa.12518. PMC 5108153. PMID 27396988.