In my last Paleo Profile of 2017 I remarked how last year was positively packed with new species of troodontid dinosaurs. But I could have just as easily said the same about fossil whales. The past year has seen an abundance of ancient cetaceans, including a new fossil dolphin.
Described by Yoshihiro Tanaka and colleagues, the roughly 25-million-year-old cetacean was found in Santa Elena Province, Ecuador. So far, it's only represented by a partial skull from a juvenile animal. Nevertheless, the fossil is something new - Urkudelphis chawpipacha, a member of a group of dolphins called platanistoids that's only represented by a handful of river dolphin species today.
Exactly how Urkudelphis made its living is as yet unclear. The partial skull is missing some of the critical parts related to hearing and feeding, and, as the paleontologists report, it's unknown whether this dolphin lived in the estuaries of its time or ventured further out to sea. But the fact that Urkudelphis was found in Ecuador makes it stand out. Finds of fossil whales are rare along the equator, and, Tanaka and colleagues conclude, Urkudelphis "is a reminder that Oligocene cetaceans may have ranged widely in tropical waters." There's still more out there to find.
.jpg)
Name: Urkudelphis chawpipacha
Meaning: Urkudelphis is a combination of Kichwa for mountain and Greek for dolphin. The species name chawpipacha translates to "middle of the world" in reference to Ecuador.
Age: Oligocene, 26-24 million years ago.
Where in the world?: Santa Elena Province, Ecuador.
What sort of organism?: A whale related to today's Indian river dolphins.
How much of the organism’s is known?: A partial skull.
References:
Tanaka, Y., Abella, J., Aguirre-Fernández, G., Gregori, M., Fordyce, R. 2017. A new tropical Oligocene dolphin from Montañita/Olón, Santa Elena, Ecuador. PLOS ONE. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188380
More Paleo Profiles:
The Light-Footed Lizard
The Maoming Cat
Knight’s Egyptian Bat
The La Luna Snake
The Rio do Rasto Tooth
Bob Weir's Otter
Egypt's Canine Beast
The Vastan Mine Tapir
Pangu's Wing
The Dawn Megamouth
The Genga Lizard
The Micro Lion
The Mystery Titanosaur
The Echo Hunter
The Lo Hueco Titan
The Three-Branched Cicada
The Monster of Minden
The Pig-Footed Bandicoot
Hayden's Rattlesnake Demon
The Evasive Ostrich Seer
The Paradoxical Mega Shark
The Tiny Beardogs
The Armored Fish King
North America's Pangolin
The Invisible-Tusked Elephant
The Mud Dragon
The Spike-Toothed Salmon
The Dream Coast Crocodile
Buriol's Robber
Ozimek's Flyer
The Northern Naustoceratopsian
The High Arctic Flyer
The Tomatillo From the End of the World
The Short-Faced Hyena
The Mighty Traveler from Egg Mountain
Keilhau's Ichthyosaur
Mexico's Ancient Horned Face
Mauricio Fernández's Plesiosaur
New Zealand's Giant Dawn Penguin
The Orange Sea Lion
Mongolia's Ginkgo Cousin
The Geni River Frog
Isabel Berry's Dinosaur
The Whale Caiman
The Moab Lizard
Yang Zhongjian's Lizard
The Little Anubis
The Shuangbai Lizard
The Wyvern Dinosaur
The "Need Helmet" Dinosaur
The Jianianhua Dragon
The Liaoning Hunter
The Dalian Lizard
Crompton's Aleodon
Jenkins' Amphibian Serpent From the Chinle
The Large Ancestor Lizard
The Crown Tooth
Currie's Alberta Hunter
The Elephant Bird Mimic
The Crested Thief
The Hiding Hunter
The Horned Lizard
The Silk Bird
The Sieve-Toothed Plesiosaur
The Defenseless Snout
Burian's Lizard
The Small Whaitsiid
The Beautiful Bird
The Fierce Cat
The Older One From Melksham
The King of the Miocene Iberian Giraffes
Miera's Lizard
The Traveling Sloth
The Sand Whale
Shouten's Marsupial Lion
The Rhaetian Lizard
Rights & Permissions
