Basilosauridae

Basilosauridae is a family of extinct cetaceans that lived during the middle to late Eocene. Basilosaurids are known from all continents including Antarctica, and are probably the first fully aquatic cetaceans. The group is noted to be a paraphyletic assemblage of stem group whales from which the monophyletic Neoceti are derived.

Basilosauridae

Emőke Dénes · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PelagicetiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Cetacea
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cetacea

Time the record covers

At least 3.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 324 occurrencesPaleocene — about 0 of 324 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 322 of 324 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 324 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 324 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 324 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 324 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 1 occurrence54–52 Mya — about 1 occurrence52–50 Mya — about 1 occurrence50–47 Mya — about 2 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 2 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 2 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 6 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 43 occurrences39–36 Mya — about 98 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 141 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 25 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–7.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–1.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences41.03 Mya – 37.71 Mya67 Mya1 Mya

324 occurrences of Basilosauridae on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

324 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

47 formations

Yazoo — 31.93°N, 88.46°WYazoo — 31.66°N, 92.90°WYazoo — 31.79°N, 88.50°WYazoo — 32.23°N, 89.37°WYazoo — 32.47°N, 90.29°WYazoo — 32.47°N, 90.08°WYazoo — 32.18°N, 89.17°WYazoo — 32.07°N, 88.96°WYazoo — 32.14°N, 89.25°WYazoo — 31.99°N, 88.48°WYazoo — 31.71°N, 87.96°WYazoo — 31.59°N, 87.70°WYazoo — 32.32°N, 90.16°WYazoo — 31.82°N, 92.33°WYazoo — 31.87°N, 88.57°WYazoo — 32.27°N, 89.39°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WYazoo — 31.63°N, 88.31°WYazoo — 31.69°N, 88.30°WYazoo — 31.73°N, 87.89°WYazoo — 31.77°N, 88.44°WYazoo — 31.65°N, 87.71°WYazoo — 31.63°N, 88.23°WYazoo — 31.66°N, 88.22°WYazoo — 31.68°N, 88.13°WYazoo — 31.57°N, 88.04°WYazoo — 32.36°N, 89.47°WYazoo — 32.28°N, 89.49°WYazoo — 31.71°N, 88.36°WYazoo — 32.14°N, 89.05°WBirket Qarun — 29.28°N, 30.04°EBirket Qarun — 29.47°N, 30.42°EBirket Qarun — 29.31°N, 30.15°EBirket Qarun — 29.48°N, 30.63°EBirket Qarun — 29.53°N, 30.72°EBirket Qarun — 29.29°N, 30.06°EGehannam — 29.30°N, 30.05°EGehannam — 29.31°N, 30.06°EGehannam — 29.36°N, 30.16°ESamlat — 23.36°N, 16.03°WSamlat — 23.00°N, 16.06°WSamlat — 23.30°N, 16.06°WGehlberg — 52.22°N, 11.01°EGehlberg — 52.14°N, 11.00°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.52°N, 30.63°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.58°N, 30.57°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.66°N, 30.74°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.69°N, 30.79°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.62°N, 30.69°EOcala — 29.16°N, 82.09°WOcala — 29.69°N, 82.57°WOcala — 29.90°N, 82.50°WOcala — 31.06°N, 87.13°WOcala — 29.14°N, 82.21°WOcala — 31.90°N, 83.92°WOcala — 31.58°N, 87.68°WOcala — 31.58°N, 84.16°WOcala — 32.72°N, 84.00°WCastle Hayne — 34.64°N, 77.67°WCastle Hayne — 35.01°N, 77.57°WCastle Hayne — 34.42°N, 77.86°WCastle Hayne — 34.37°N, 77.84°WCastle Hayne — 34.84°N, 77.55°WCastle Hayne — 35.31°N, 77.15°WCastle Hayne — 35.61°N, 77.37°WCastle Hayne — 36.40°N, 77.31°WAridal — 25.09°N, 13.89°WAridal — 25.15°N, 13.32°WAridal — 25.44°N, 13.72°WTupelo Bay — 33.21°N, 80.45°WTupelo Bay — 33.27°N, 80.43°WKiev — 50.35°N, 30.53°EKiev — 48.45°N, 39.65°EKiev — 49.08°N, 33.13°EKiev — 49.06°N, 32.95°EKiev — 48.30°N, 33.27°EWadi Esh-Shallala — 31.57°N, 37.12°EWadi Esh-Shallala — 30.85°N, 35.85°EBarton Clay — 50.74°N, 1.66°WCrystal River — 29.24°N, 82.15°WCrystal River — 30.09°N, 83.24°WCrystal River — 29.32°N, 83.14°WCrystal River — 30.21°N, 83.25°WCrystal River — 29.67°N, 83.40°WClinchfield — 32.91°N, 83.36°WClinchfield — 32.40°N, 83.64°WSubmeseta — 64.25°S, 56.62°WParacas — 14.67°S, 75.64°WDaba'a — 29.16°N, 27.43°EDaba'a — 29.42°N, 26.77°EWaihao Greensand — 44.78°S, 170.93°EWaihao Greensand — 44.78°S, 171.17°EKharkov — 47.72°N, 42.20°ELa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.63°WMaldegem — 51.41°N, 3.55°EDrazinda — 30.79°N, 70.44°EDrazinda — 28.09°N, 65.78°EMoodys Branch — 32.72°N, 90.46°WMoodys Branch — 32.90°N, 90.19°W

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The named rock units Basilosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 23 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 55 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Basilosauridae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Basilosauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

893 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 244 sites for Basilosauridae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

120 references

Each of the 324 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 108 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Basilosauridae

Credit
Emőke Dénes
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Basilosauridae indet. · NMR:10283

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPelagiceti through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1867