Mystacodon

Name: Mystacodon ‭(‬Moustache tooth‭)‬.
Phonetic: Mis-tah-ko-don.
Named By: O.‭ ‬Lambert,‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Mart�nez-C�eres,‭ ‬G.‭ ‬Bianucci,‭ ‬E.‭ ‬Steurbaut,‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Urbina‭ & ‬C.‭ ‬Muizon‭ ‬-‭ ‬2017.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Cetacea.
Species: M.‭ ‬selenensis‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Holotype estimated to be about‭ ‬3.75‭ ‬to‭ ‬4‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: Peru‭ ‬-‭ ‬Yumaque Formation.
Time period: Priabonian of the Eocene.
Fossil representation: ‭P‬artial skull and post cranial skeleton.




       Mystacodon is a genus of primitive whale that lived in‭ ‬waters around South America during the Eocene.‭ ‬Mystacodon is a transitional form,‭ ‬somewhere between the predatory toothed whale ancestors and later filter feeding baleen whales.‭ ‬Mystacodon however is thought to have been a suction feeder.‭ ‬This is where the whale would open its mouth creating a sudden vacuum in the water.‭ ‬Any small fish nearby are literally sucked in to the mouth which then closes around them.

Further reading
-‭ ‬Earliest Mysticete from the Late Eocene of Peru Sheds New Light on the Origin of Baleen Whales.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Current Biology‭ ‬27:17.‭ ‬-‭ ‬O.‭ ‬Lambert,‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Mart�nez-C�eres,‭ ‬G.‭ ‬Bianucci,‭ ‬E.‭ ‬Steurbaut,‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Urbina‭ & ‬C.‭ ‬Muizon‭ ‬-‭ ‬2017.



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