Waipatia is an extinct genus of odontocetes from the late Oligocene (Chattian) of New Zealand.
| Waipatia Temporal range:
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| The fish Megalampris (above) and W. maerewhenua (below) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Waipatiidae |
| Genus: | †Waipatia Fordyce, 1994 |
| Species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Taxonomy
editThe type species, Waipatia maerewhenua is known from a single skull found near 45° South in Otago.[2] The second species, W. hectori, was originally named Microcetus hectori in 1935, but later recognized as distinct from Microcetus.[3][4] "Uncamentodon" was informally coined for M. hectori in a table by Rothausen in a 1970 paper, but the lack of a diagnosis or description made it a nomen nudum. Finally in 2015, M. hectori was recognized as a second species of Waipatia based on preparation of additional material included in the holotype.[5]
References
edit- ^ Fordyce, R. E. (1994). "Waipatia maerewhenua, new genus and new species (Waipatiidae, new family), an archaic Late Oligocene dolphin (Cetacea: Odontoceti: Platanistoidea) from New Zealand" (PDF). In A. Berta & T. Deméré (ed.). Contributions in marine mammal paleontology honoring Frank C. Whitmore, Jr. (Proceedings of the San Diego Museum of Natural History, 29). pp. 147–176.
- ^ Fordyce, R. Ewan (23 November 2015). "Waipatia maerewhenua — a small archaic dolphin from the Oligocene of New Zealand". University of Otago.
- ^ Benham,W. B. (1935). "The teeth of an extinct whale, Microcetus hectori n. sp." Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 65:239-243.
- ^ Rothausen, K. (1961). "Ueber Microcetus, einen kleinen Squalodontiden aus dem Oberoligozaen". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 112(1):106-116.
- ^ Tanaka, Y. and R. E. Fordyce (2015). "Historically significant late Oligocene dolphin Microcetus hectori Benham 1935: a new species of Waipatia (Platanistoidea)". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Further reading
edit- Berta, Annalisa; James L. Sumich, and Kit M. Kovacs. Marine Mammals: Evolutionary Biology
- Ellis, Richard. Aquagenesis: The Origin and Evolution of Life in the Sea
- Hoelzel, A. Rus. Marine Mammal Biology: An Evolutionary Approach
- Rich, Pat Vickers; Thomas Hewitt Rich, Francesco Coffa, and Steven Morton. Wildlife of Gondwana: Dinosaurs and Other Vertebrates from the Ancient Supercontinent (Life of the Past)
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