A new tropical Oligocene dolphin from Montañita/Olón, Santa Elena, Ecuador.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29261688.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0188380 and PMC identifier 5737981.
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Abstract
A new small probable Oligocene dolphin from Ecuador represents a new genus and species, Urkudelphis chawpipacha. The new taxon is known from a single juvenile skull and earbones; it differs from other archaic dolphins in features including widely exposed frontals at the vertex, a dorsally wide open vomer at the mesorostral groove, and a strongly projected and pointed lateral tuberosity of the periotic. Phylogenetic analysis places it toward the base of the largely-extinct clade Platanistoidea. The fossil is one of a few records of tropical fossil dolphins.
Medical subject headings
- Dolphins
- Fossils