List of extinct cetaceans

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness.

The list of extinct cetaceans features the extinct species of the order Cetacea. The cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are descendants of land-living mammals, the even-toed ungulates. The earliest cetaceans were still hoofed-mammals. These early cetaceans became gradually better adapted for swimming than for walking on land, finally evolving into fully marine cetaceans.

This list currently includes only fossil species. However, the Atlantic population of Gray Whales (Eschrichtius robustus) was hunted to extinction in the 17th century, and the Baiji (or Chinese River Dolphin, Lipotes vexillifer) was declared "functionally extinct" after an expedition in late 2006 failed to find any in the Yangtze River.

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Family Protocetidae

(Eocene)

• Artiocetus clavis^[1]
• Protocetus atavus
• Rodhocetus balochistanensis
• Rhodocetus kasrani

Family Pakicetidae

(Early to Middle Eocene)

• Gandakasia
• Pakicetus inachus
• Nalacetus
• Ichthyolestes

Family Ambulocetidae

(Eocene)

• Ambulocetus natans
• Himalayacetus subathuensis

Family Dorudontidae

(Eocene)

• Dorudon atrox
• Zygorhiza kochii

Family Basilosauridae

(Late Eocene)

• Basilosaurus cetoides
• Basilosaurus drazindai
• Basilosaurus isis

Family Mammalodontidae

(Eocene - Late Oligocene)

• Mammalodon colliveri

Family Janjucetidae

(Late Oligocene)

• Janjucetus hunderi

Family Kentriodontidae

(Late Oligocene - Middle Miocene)

• Kentriodon

Family Rhabdosteidae (Eurhinodelphidae)

(Mid to Late Miocene)

• Eurhinodelphis ambiguus
• Eurhinodelphis cocheuteuxi
• Eurhinodelphis longirostris
• Rhabdosteus

Family Squalodontidae

• Prosqualodon (Oligocene to the early Miocene)
• Squalodon (Miocene and Pliocene)

Family Cetotheriidae

(Miocene - Early Pleistocene)

• Cetotherium
• Piscobalaena nana^[2]

Family Odobenocetopsidae

(Pliocene)

• Odobenocetops peruvianus
• Odobenocetops leptodon

Family not yet specified

• Eobalaenoptera harrisoni (Middle Miocene)

References

(See also external links)

See also

• Evolution of cetaceans
• List of cetaceans
• List of prehistoric mammals
• List of extinct animals