Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

New baleen whale genera (Cetacea, Mammalia) from the miocene of the northern Caucasus and Ciscaucasia: 2. Vampalus gen. nov. from the Middle-Late Miocene of Chechnya and Krasnodar Region

  • Published:
Paleontological Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Based on an almost complete skeleton (skull, scapula fragment, humeri, ulna, radius, 7 cervical, 12 thoracic, and 20 lumbar and caudal vertebrae) from the Aksai River valley near the village of Sayasan (Nozhai-Yurtovskii District of the Chechen Republic), a new Middle-Late Miocene representative of the cetotheriid subfamily Herpetocetinae, Vampalus sayasanicus gen. et sp. nov., is described. This is the first record of fossil whales in Chechnya. The genus Vampalus is also considered to include Cetotherium helmerseni Brandt, 1871 from the Miocene of the Krasnodar Region.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bouetel, V. and Muizon, C., de, The Anatomy and Relationships of Piscobalaena nana (Cetacea, Mysticeti), a Cetotheriidae s. s. from the Early Pliocene of Peru, Geodiversitas, 2006, vol. 28, pp. 319–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandt, J.F., Bericht über den Fortgang meiner Studien über die Cetaceen, welche das grosse zur Tertiarzeit von Mitteleuropa bis Centralasien hinein ausgedehnte Meeresbecken bevölkerten, Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Petersb., 1871, vol. 16, pp. 563–566.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandt, J.F., Untersuchungen über die fossilen und subfossilen Cetaceen Europa’s: Mit Beitragen von Van Beneden, Comalia, Gastaldi, Quenstedt und Paulson nebst einem geologischen Anhange von Barbot de Marny, G. v. Helmersen, A. Goebel und Th. Fuchs, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersb., 1873, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1–371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geisler, J.H. and Luo, Z., The Petrosal and Inner Ear of Herpetocetus sp. (Mammalia: Cetacea) and Their Implications for the Phylogeny and Hearing of Archaic Mysticetes, J. Paleontol., 1996, vol. 70, no. 6, pp. 1045–1066.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luo, Z. and Gingerich, P.D., Terrestrial Mesonychia to Aquatic Cetacea: Transformation of the Basicranium and Evolution of Hearing in Whales, Univ. Michigan Pap. Paleontol., 1999, no. 31, pp. 1–98.

  • Miller, G.S., The Telescoping of the Cetacean Skull, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., 1923, vol. 76, pp. 1–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nevesskaya, L.A., Gontsharova, I.A., Iljina, L.B., et al., On the Stratigraphical Scale of the Neogene of the Eastern Paratethys, Stratigr. Geol. Korrelyatsiya, 2003, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 3–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nevesskaya, L.A., Gontsharova, I.A., Iljina, L.B., and Popov, S.V., Evolutionary Changes in the Malacofauna in Neogene Basins of the Paratethys As an Example of the Development of Ecosystems of the Insular Type, Zh. Obshch. Biol., 2009, vol. 70, no. 5, pp. 396–414.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulte, H. W., von Monographs of the Pacific Cetacea: The Sei Whale (Balaenoptera borealis Lesson): Part 2. Anatomy of a Foetus of Balaenoptera borealis, Mem. Am. Mus. Natur. Hist., 1916, vol. 1, no. 6, pp. 391–502.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steeman, M., Cladistic Analysis and a Revised Classification of Fossil and Recent Mysticetes, Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 2007, vol. 150, pp. 875–894.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steeman, M., The Extinct Baleen Whale Fauna from the Miocene-Pliocene of Belgium and the Diagnostic Cetacean Ear Bones, J. Syst. Palaeontol., 2010, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 63–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tarasenko, K.K., A New Baleen Whale Genus (Cetacea, Mammalia) from the Neogene of the Chechen Republic, in Sovremennaya paleontologiya: klassicheskie i noveishie metody. Tezisy VIII Vseross. nauchn. shkoly molodykh uchenykh-paleontologov (VIII All-Russia Scientific School of Young Scientists Paleontologists on Modern Paleontology: Classical and New Methods), Moscow: Paleontol. Inst. Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2011, pp. 43–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitmore, F.C. and Barnes, L.G., The Herpetocetinae, a New Subfamily of Extinct Baleen Whales (Mammalia, Cetacea, Cetotheriidae), Virginia Mus. Natur. Hist. Spec. Publ., 2008, no. 14, pp. 141–180.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya ul. 123, Moscow, 117997, Russia

    K. K. Tarasenko & A. V. Lopatin

Authors
  1. K. K. Tarasenko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. V. Lopatin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to K. K. Tarasenko.

Additional information

Original Russian Text © K.K. Tarasenko, A.V. Lopatin, 2012, published in Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 2012, No. 6, pp. 72–81.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tarasenko, K.K., Lopatin, A.V. New baleen whale genera (Cetacea, Mammalia) from the miocene of the northern Caucasus and Ciscaucasia: 2. Vampalus gen. nov. from the Middle-Late Miocene of Chechnya and Krasnodar Region. Paleontol. J. 46, 620–629 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S003103011206010X

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S003103011206010X

Keywords

Search

Navigation