Persufflatius, Bosselaers & Munsterman, 2022

Bosselaers, Mark & Munsterman, Dirk K., 2022, The discovery of a Balaenomorpha (Persufflatius renefraaijeni n. gen., n. sp.) from the upper Miocene of the Netherlands sheds new light on the cranial anatomy of archaic rorqual relatives, Geodiversitas 44 (30), pp. 933-973 : 936

Genus Persufflatius n. gen.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:AFD92E26-6212-47C7-94DF-CD6AE454280E

DIAGNOSIS. — As for the type and only species.

TYPE SPECIES. — Persufflatius renefraaijeni n. sp.

ETYMOLOGY. — From the Latin ‘ sufflatus ’, meaning bulbous, inflated and the prefix ‘ per ’ meaning ‘very much’, ‘strongly’. The genus name ‘ Persufflatius ’ relates to the inflated overall aspect of the neurocranium ( Figs 4 ; 5 ).

Figures

FIG. 4. — Persufflatius renefraaijeni n. gen., n. sp., MAB 010293, holotype, partial right neurocranium: A, posterior view; B, posterodorsal view; C, dorsal view; D, anterior view;E, anteroventral-ventral view (with periotic removed);F, anteroventral view (with periotic in place).Colour images: original; grey images: reconstruction of the left side by mirroring the original. Scale bar: 30 cm.

FIG. 5. — Persufflatius renefraaijeni n. gen., n. sp.; MAB 010293, holotype. The neurocranium of Persufflatius n. gen. compared to the outline drawings of Pelocetus, Atlanticetus, Parietobalaena, Piscobalaena (a typical Cetotheriidae) and Balaenoptera acutorostrata (a typical derived Balaenopteridae). Notice the rounded, bulbous, ‘inflated’ shape of the postglenoid process, the exoccipital, the anterior squamosal and the supraoccipital (arrows).