Acrophyseter
Sign in to saveAcrophyseter is a genus of extinct sperm whale that lived in the Late Miocene off the coast of what is now Peru. The genus comprises two species: A. deinodon and A. robustus. It is part of a group of macroraptorial sperm whales that all share several features for hunting large prey, such as deeply rooted and thick teeth. Acrophyseter measured in length, making it the smallest macroraptorial sperm whale currently known. Because of its short pointed snout and strongly curved front teeth, it probably fed on the marine vertebrates of its time, such as seals and other whales.
Wikidata facts
- Parent taxon
- Physeteroidea
- Image
- Acrophyseter deinodon.jpg
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- Commons category
- Acrophyseter
- taxon rank
- genus
- taxon name
- Acrophyseter
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Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- History of discovery
- Description
- Taxonomy
- Paleobiology
- Paleoecology
- References
Acrophyseter is a genus of extinct sperm whale that lived in the Late Miocene off the coast of what is now Peru. The genus comprises two species: A. deinodon and A. robustus. It is part of a group of macroraptorial sperm whales that all share several features for hunting large prey, such as deeply rooted and thick teeth. Acrophyseter measured in length, making it the smallest macroraptorial sperm whale currently known. Because of its short pointed snout and strongly curved front teeth, it probably fed on the marine vertebrates of its time, such as seals and other whales.
==History of discovery== thumb|left|Holotype skull of A. robustus
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Acrophyseter” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.