Messapicetus

Messapicetus is an extinct genus of beaked whale from the Late Miocene. It currently holds two species, M. longirostris from the Tortonian of Italy and M. gregarius from the Pisco Formation of Peru. However, a third unnamed species is represented in the St. Marys Formation of Maryland known from fragmentary material. M. gregarius is sexually dimorphic, males having tusks which are hypothesized to have been used in intraspecific combat for mates as in extant (living) beaked whales. Messapicetus reached a body length of about 4.1–4.5 meters (13–15 ft) and weighed 1.8 metric tons.

Messapicetus

Bianucci G., Collareta A., Post K., Varola A. & Lambert O. (2016) · 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
MessapicetiformesPBDB
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 16 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 20.45 Mya and 5.333 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Miocene — about 15 of 15 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 15 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.7–9.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.1–8.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.6–8.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.1–7.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.5–7.0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences7.0–6.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.4–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–5.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.4–4.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20.9 Mya4.8 Mya

15 occurrences of Messapicetus 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

15 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

4 formations

Pisco — 14.34°S, 75.91°WMonterey — 33.56°N, 117.71°WPietra Leccese — 40.33°N, 18.19°EPietra Leccese — 40.35°N, 18.17°ESt Marys — 38.40°N, 76.41°WSt Marys — 38.32°N, 76.42°W

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The named rock units Messapicetus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Messapicetus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Messapicetus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

156 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 13 sites for Messapicetus, and this reads all 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

10 references

Each of the 15 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. 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 content1

Picture of Messapicetus

Credit
Bianucci G., Collareta A., Post K., Varola A. & Lambert O. (2016)
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Messapicetus was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itMessapicetiformes through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bianucci et al. 1992