Peruvian and European paleontologists have described a new fossil species of dolphin that lived in what is now Peru during the Miocene period, about 16 million years ago.
Huaridelphis raimondii, with an outline of the head and potential fish prey. Image credit: © G.Bianucci.
The new species, named Huaridelphis raimondii, belongs to Squalodelphinidae, a rare extinct family of marine dolphins, which are related to the extant Ganges and Indus river dolphins.
Though the squalodelphinids have been known for some time, these small to medium size dolphins are rare in the fossil record, and were until now only found in a few localities in Argentina, France, Italy, and east coast of the United States.
Several well-preserved skulls of Huaridelphis raimondii were uncovered from the Pisco Basin – a desert on the coast of Peru.
Skull of Huaridelphis raimondii. Image credit: © G.Bianucci.
“The quality of the fossils places these specimens as some of the best-preserved members of this rare family,” said Dr Olivier Lambert of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, who is the lead author of a paper describing Huaridelphis raimondii in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
The Pisco Basin is currently one of the richest areas in the world for the study of the evolution of whales and other marine mammals; whales with fossilized baleen, a giant raptorial sperm whale, and a walrus-like dolphin have been discovered there.
“For the past 30 years, many fossil cetacean species were described based on material from the Pisco Basin, dated from the Eocene to the Pliocene. And we are still far from the end of the study for this hot spot of marine mammal paleontology,” Dr Lambert said.
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Olivier Lambert et al. 2014. Huaridelphis raimondii, a new early Miocene Squalodelphinidae (Cetacea, Odontoceti) from the Chilcatay Formation, Peru. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 987-1004; doi: 10.1080/02724634.2014.858050
