Basilosauridae
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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.
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Systematics and Classification
- Size
- Taxonomy
- See also
- Notes
- References
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.
==Characteristics== thumb|left|Dorudon skeletal diagram. thumb|Cynthiacetus, mounted skeleton. thumb|Zygorhiza, mounted skeleton.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Basilosauridae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.