WASHINGTON, June 23 (Portal) – United States scientists have discovered a new species of primitive toothed whale, or toothed whale, swimming along the north Pacific coast about 28 million years ago, a scientific journal published today said.
Known as Olympicetus thalassodon, this is one of several species that are helping to understand the early history and diversification of modern dolphins, porpoises and other toothed whales, according to a study published in the journal PeerJ Life and Environment.
Paleontologist Jorge Vélez-Juarbe of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History explained that Olympicetus thalassodon and its close relatives exhibit a combination of traits that truly set them apart from any other group of toothed whales.
He mentioned that their multi-pointed teeth, symmetrical skull, and forward-pointing nostrils make them look more like an intermediate stage between archaic whales and the more familiar dolphins.
The article also describes the remains of two other closely related toothed whales.
All of the fossils were collected from a geological unit called the Pysht Formation, uncovered along the coast of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state and dated to between 26.5 and 30.5 million years old.
The research also revealed that Olympicetus and its close relatives belonged to a family called Simocetidae, previously known only from the North Pacific, and represented one of the earliest divergent groups of toothed whales.