Kentriodontinae Slijper, 1936

Lambert, Olivier, Estevens, Mário & Smith, Richard, 2005, A new kentriodontine dolphin from the middle Miocene of Portugal, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 50 (2), pp. 239-248 : 240

Subfamily Kentriodontinae Slijper, 1936

Included genera: Delphinodon Leidy, 1869 ; Kentriodon Kellogg, 1927 ;

Kampholophos Rensberger, 1969 ; Macrokentriodon Dawson, 1996b ; Rudicetus Bianucci, 2001 ; and Tagicetus gen. nov.

Remarks.—While the best known members of the Kentriodontinae show obvious similarities at the level of the face, the diagnosis of this subfamily is generally based on characters for which the polarity is difficult to determine (e.g., Barnes 1978; Muizon 1988a; and discussion below). More detailed data about the basicranium and the ear bones in a greater number of species supposed to belong in this subfamily would probably restrict the diagnosis of this taxon. From the previously published diagnoses cited above, only one character might be considered as a synapomorphy of the group, namely the posterolateral projection of the nasal between the frontal and the maxilla, first proposed by Muizon (1988a). However, the intraspecific variability of this character in Macrokentriodon morani Dawson, 1996b may weaken its value as a synapomorphy. A revision of the phylogenetic relationships between taxa within the Kentriodontinae and/or Kentriodontidae is beyond the scope of this paper though.

The kentriodontid genera Belonodelphis Muizon, 1988b and Incacetus Colbert, 1944 were also referred by Fordyce and Muizon (2001) to the subfamily Kentriodontinae . The low level of information about the vertex of these two taxa makes that attribution questionable though, for which they are not included in the differential diagnosis of the new genus and species presented below.