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Aulophyseter is an extinct genus of sperm whales from the subfamily Physeterinae that existed during the Miocene. Aulophyseter is estimated to have been c.6.1–6.4 metres (20–21 ft) long.

History of discovery

Fossils of Aulophyseter have been found in:[2]

Taxonomy

The genus was established by paleontologist Remington Kellogg in 1927, who described the type species Aulophyseter morricei based on a partial skull from the Miocene Temblor Formation in California, noting its morphological affinities to modern sperm whale(Physeter macrocephalus) through features such as an enlarged cranial cavity suggestive of early spermaceti organ development and overall robust construction.[2]

Description

Life restoration

This species exhibits distinctive cranial features, including extremely broad premaxillae dominating the rostrum’s dorsal surface, a closed anterior mesorostral gutter, lance-shaped temporal fossae, and functional upper teeth housed in a common alveolar groove, adaptations suggesting a diet broader than that of modern sperm whales.[3] It is possible that the upper basin part of the skull completely covered the snout. The organ was filled with spermaceti organ. Albicetus was morphologically similar to, but the difference Aulophyseter is that the maxillary Aulophyseter had degenerated teeth.[citation needed] Aulophyseter is estimated to have been c.6.1–6.4 metres (20–21 ft) long,[4] and weighed approximately 1,100 kilograms (2,400 lb).[5] This large size was also observed in other contemporary Physeteroidea whales.[6] [7]

Paleobiology

Aulophyseter’s small upper teeth lack enamel, which suggests that its feeding habits were more similar to those of modern sperm whales than to other early sperm whales. The diet of Aulophyseter was largely limited to cephalopods and fish. but, The preservation of the maxillary teeth is Aulophyseter may have occasionally hunted smaller marine vertebrates.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Remington, Kellogg (1927). “Study of the skull of a fossil sperm-whale from the Temblor Miocene of Southern California”. Contributions to Palaeontology from the Carnegie Institution of Washington: 3–24.
  2. ^ a b Aulophyseter at Fossilworks.org
  3. ^ rionegrensis (Cetacea: Odontoceti: Physeteroidea) from the Miocene of Patagonia (Argentina): a reappraisal
  4. ^ Paolucci, F.; Buono, M. R.; Fernández, M. S. (2025). “Awakening Patagonia’s sleeping sperm whale: a new description of the Early Miocene Idiorophus patagonicus (Odontoceti, Physeteroidea)”. Papers in Palaeontology. 11 (2). e70007. doi:10.1002/spp2.70007. This condition appeared convergently in other physeteroids, such as Aulophyseter (6.4 m), Zygophyseter (7 m), Brygmophyseter (c. 6 m) and probably Albicetus (5.9 m) during the Middle and Late Miocene
  5. ^ van Dongen PAM. 1998 Brain size in vertebrates. In The central nervous system of vertebrates (eds Nieuwenhuys R, ten Donkelaar HJ, Nicholson C), pp. 2099–2134. Berlin, Germany: Springer.
  6. ^ Lambert, Olivier; Bianucci, Giovanni; Beatty, Brian L. (2014-06-01). “Bony outgrowths on the jaws of an extinct sperm whale support macroraptorial feeding in several stem physeteroids”. Naturwissenschaften. 101 (6): 517–521. doi:10.1007/s00114-014-1182-2. ISSN 1432-1904. PMID 24821119.
  7. ^ Albicetus oxymycterus, a New Generic Name and Redescription of a Basal Physeteroid (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Miocene of California, and the Evolution of Body Size in Sperm Whales https://journals.plos.org/plosone/articleid=10.1371/journal.pone.0135551
  8. ^ Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals by William F. Perrin, Bernd Wursig, and J. G.M. Thewissen*
  • Colbert’s Evolution of the Vertebrates: A History of the Backboned Animals Through Time by Edwin H. Colbert, Michael Morales, and Eli C. Minkoff Pg.396.
  • Sperm Whales: Social Evolution in the Ocean by Hal Whitehead
  • Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals by William F. Perrin, Bernd Wursig, and J. G.M. Thewissen
  • Aulophyseter morricei