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Eophyseter damarcoi
Taxonomy
Eophyseter damarcoi was named by Bisconti et al. (2025). Its type specimen is MGPT-PU 13864, a partial skeleton (most of the vertebral column (a total of 36 vertebrae including seven cervicals subdivided into two blocks: one including the atlas, C1, and the other including), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Valmontasca, which is in a Piacenzian deltaic sandstone in the Sabbie d'Asti Formation of Italy. It is the type species of Eophyseter.
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Eophyseter damarcoi Bisconti et al. p. 148 |
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If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.
†Eophyseter damarcoi Bisconti et al. 2025
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| M. Bisconti et al. 2025 | Eophyseter damarcoi gen. nov. sp. nov.
shows a unique morphology of the atlas, in the axis-bearing cervical block, in the proportions of the vertebral column and in the ulna. Diagnostic characters are the following: (1) the atlas is characterized by articular facets for the occipital condyles that protrude dorsally to the body of the vertebra and reach the height of the superior surface of the neural arch; (2) the articular surface for occipital condyles are comparatively wider than those of all the other physeteroids in which the atlas is preserved, and their ventromedial portion is comparatively longer; (3) in the axis-bearing cervical block, the epiphysis of the 7th cervical vertebra is dorsoventrally compressed and transversely wid- ened to form showing an elliptical outline (it is transversely narrow and rounder in all the other physeteroids in which the axis-bearing block is preserved); (4) the lengths of the vertebral centra are com- paratively more elongated than those of physeterids in which the vertebral column is known; in particular, in a long portion of the thoracic and lumbar regions of the vertebral column, the lengths of the centra are almost equal to the corresponding widths and heights (this pattern contrasts with that of extant sperm whales in which the length values are lower than those of heights and widths); (5) the posterior border of the ulna is posteriorly convex rather than being straight or concave as in other physeterids in which the ulna is preserved. |
Measurements
No measurements are available
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| Source: f = family, subo = suborder, o = order | |||||
| References: Nowak 1991, Uhen 2004 | |||||
Age range: Piacenzian or 3.60000 to 2.58000 Ma
Collections: one only
| Time interval | Ma | Country or state | Original ID and collection number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piacenzian | Italy (Asti) | Physeter macrocephalus (type locality: 80610) |