Kentriodontidae, Slijper, 1936

Gol’din, Pavel, Haiduc, Bogdan Stelian, Kovalchuk, Oleksandr, Górka, Marcin, Otryazhyi, Pavlo, Brânzilă, Mihai, Păun, Elena Ionela, Barkaszi, Zoltán, Ţibuleac, Paul & Răţoi, Bogdan Gabriel, 2020, The Volhynian (late Middle Miocene) marine fishes and mammals as proxies for the onset of the Eastern Paratethys re-colonisation by vertebrate fauna, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 43) 23 (3), pp. 1-20 : 11

? Kentriodontidae indet. 2

Figure 5D–E

Material and localities. Two thoracic and caudal vertebrae; Stăuceni, Stâncești.

Description and comparison. This is an unusually derived morphotype characterised by extremely short vertebral centra, mostly recorded in modern delphinids ( Buchholtz, 2001). The dwarf size of the specimens resembles Microphocaena podolica from the Volhynian of Brykiv ( Ukraine), which is known only from its cranium. Notably, M. podolica is the only previously known Volhynian cetacean from the Fore-Carpathian Basin. Periotic bones from a few dwarf kentriodontids were also reported earlier from the Vienna Basin ( Kazár, 2006).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Marine mammals from the Volhynian beds of the Moldavian Platform: A – Phocinae indet. 2, scapula and caudal vertebra, Stăuceni; B – Kentriodon fuchsii, a lumbar vertebra, dorsal and posterior view, Basarabi; C – Kentriodontidae indet. 1 (cf. Imerodelphis thabagarii), lumbar vertebra, dorsal and anterior view, Saur-Mohyla; D – Kentriodontidae indet. 2, caudal vertebra, anterior and lateral view, Stăuceni; E – Kentriodontidae indet. 2, thoracic vertebra, anterior view, Stâncești; F – Kentriodontidae indet. 3, caudal vertebra, anterior and lateral view, Stăuceni; G – Pachyacanthus sp., thoracic vertebra, anterior and lateral view, Vilkhovets; H – Cetotheriidae indet., caudal vertebra, dorsal and lateral view, Stăuceni; I-J –? Mysticeti indet. (“Archaeocetus fockii”), rib fragment, lateral view and cross-section (I), caudal vertebra (J), dorsal and lateral view, Drăgușeni. Scale bars equal 2 cm in A–I and 5 cm in J.