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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