A new fossil rorqual (Mammalia, Cetacea, Balaenopteridae) from the Early Pliocene of the North Sea, with a review of the rorqual species described by Owen and Van Beneden
Author
Bosselaers, Mark
Author
Post, Klaas
text
Geodiversitas
2010
2010-06-30
32
2
331
363
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.5252/g2010n2a6
journal article
10.5252/g2010n2a6
1638-9395
5382040
Genus
Diunatans
n. gen.
TYPE
SPECIES
. —
Diunatans luctoretemergo
n. sp.
ETYMOLOGY. —
Diunatans
: “diu” = long time (and hence long distance-) and “natans” (> natare) = swimming (swimmer).
DIAGNOSIS. —
Diunatans
n. gen.
is a small sized rorqual, roughly of the size of extant
B. acutorostrata
Lacépède, 1804
, characterised by: very short nasal; mediolaterally wide pterygoid fossa; large, robust and prominent occipital condyle; mediolaterally wide squamosal body lateral to the supraoccipital; dorsal bulge on squamosal; tympanic bulla very large compared to zygomatic width; wide, globose tympanic bulla (L/W ratio: 1.24) with sigmoid process perpendicular to long axis; rounded and bulbous pars cochlearis (L/W ratio: 1.23-1.26); very long, slender and curved stapes; massive and square basioccipital process; wide basioccipital.