Masracetus

Name: Masracetus ‭(‬Egypt whale‭)‬.
Phonetic: Mas-r-ah-see-tus.
Named By: P.‭ ‬D.‭ ‬Gingerich‭ ‬-‭ ‬2007.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Cetacea,‭ ‬Archaeoceti,‭ ‬Basilosauridae.
Species: M.‭ ‬markgrafi‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: ‭Very roughly estimated about 10 meters long.
Known locations: Egypt‭ ‬-‭ ‬Birket Qarun Formation,‭ ‬Daba'a Formation,‭ ‬Gehannam Formation.
Time period: Priabonian of the Eocene.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and vertebrae.




       As a member of the Basilosauridae,‭ ‬Masracetus was a relative of the famous Basilosaurus,‭ ‬and comparable in terms of skull size and body width.‭ ‬However,‭ ‬as in other relative genera such as Cynthiacetus,‭ ‬the vertebrae of Masracetus were much shorter than the vertebrae of Basilosaurus,‭ ‬indicating a proportionately shorter body.
       Masracetus was named from a combination of the Arabic word for Egypt‭ ‘‬Masr‭’‬,‭ ‬and the Greek for whale‭ ‘‬ketos‭’‬,‭ ‬while the type species name,‭ ‬M.‭ ‬markgrafi is in honour of Richard Markgraf who discovered the type specimen of Masracetus all the way back in‭ ‬1905,‭ ‬over one hundred years before it was named as a distinct genus.

Further reading
-‭ ‬Stromerius nidensis,‭ ‬New Archaeocete‭ (‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Cetacea‭) ‬From The Upper Eocene Qasr El-Sagha Formation,‭ ‬Fayum,‭ ‬Egypt.‭ ‬-‭ ‬31‭(‬13‭)‬:363-378.‭ ‬-‭ ‬P.‭ ‬D.‭ ‬Gingerich‭ ‬-‭ ‬2007.
-‭ ‬Dentary of Masracetus markgrafi,‭ ‬Archaeocete in the north of Lake Qaroun,‭ ‬Fayoum Egypt.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Journal of Amercian Science.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Gebely A.‭ ‬Abu-El-kheir,‭ ‬Mohammed I.‭ ‬El Anbaawy,‭ ‬Sobhi A.‭ ‬Helal‭ & ‬Susan Gibbs‭ ‬-‭ ‬2013.



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