Squalodon
Extinct genus of mammals / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Squalodon is an extinct genus of whales of the Oligocene and Miocene epochs, belonging to the family Squalodontidae. Named by Jean-Pierre Sylvestre de Grateloup in 1840,[1] it was originally believed to be an iguanodontid dinosaur but has since been reclassified. The name Squalodon comes from Squalus, a genus of shark. As a result, its name means "shark tooth". Its closest modern relative is the South Asian river dolphin (with its two subspecies the Ganges river dolphin and Indus river dolphin).[2]
Squalodon | |
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Skull of S. bariensis in Brussels | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Infraorder: | Cetacea |
Superfamily: | Platanistoidea |
Family: | †Squalodontidae Brandt, 1873 |
Genus: | †Squalodon Grateloup, 1840 |
Species | |
†S. grateloupii von Meyer, 1843 |