Berardius kobayashii

Berardius kobayashii is an extinct species of beaked whale in the genus Berardius, known from the Middle to Late Miocene of Japan. It is described from fossils recovered from the Tsurushi Formation on Sado Island. The species represents the oldest known member of the genus and provides insight into the early evolution of modern beaked whales.

Berardius kobayashii

Pagodroma721 · 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
BerardiusPBDB
Diet
piscivore, carnivorePBDB, for Ziphiidae
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti

Time the record covers

At most 6.6 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 13.82 Mya and 7.246 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Miocene — about 1 of 1 occurrenceMiocene14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.8–9.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.5–9.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.3–9.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.0–8.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.8–8.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.5–8.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.3–8.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.0–7.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.8–7.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.5–7.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.3–7.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14.3 Mya6.7 Mya

1 occurrence of Berardius kobayashii on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

1 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

1 formation

Tsurushi — 37.84°N, 138.26°E

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The named rock units Berardius kobayashii has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Berardius kobayashii and its relatives

Miocene

Where Berardius kobayashii and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

No other named taxon is catalogued from that site.

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Berardius kobayashii, and this reads all of them.

Entered from

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Berardius kobayashii

Credit
Pagodroma721
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Berardius kobayashii was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itBerardius through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Kawatani and Kohno 2021