Open AccessFirst record of the archaeocete whale family Protocetidae from Europe
Author(s) -
Uhen Mark D.,
Berndt HansJürgen
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
fossil record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1860-1014
pISSN - 1435-1943
DOI - 10.1002/mmng.200800001
Subject(s) - whale , fishery , geography , genealogy , history , biology
We describe a specimen of Eocetus sp. from the middle Eocene Stockletten Formation of Rohrdorf, Bavaria, Germany, consisting of a lumbar vertebral body and transverse processes. This specimen constitutes the first record of Eocetus , and the first confirmed record of the family Protocetidae from Europe. This new observation further supports the hypothesis that protocetids were highly aquatic and that their method of aquatic locomotion was sufficient for them to spread far from their center of origin in Indo‐Pakistan. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)