Palaeontology

Extinct toothless dwarf dolphin unveiled

By T.K. Randall
August 23, 2017 ·  3 comments
At just over half the size of a bottlenose dolphin, this pint-sized, snub-nosed mammal was identified following the discovery of a fossilized cranium in a river near Charleston, South Carolina.Known as Inermorostrum xenops, the species was believed to be an early offshoot of a group of cetaceans known as the toothed whales, which also include beaked whales and sperm whales.

Meet Inermorostrum xenops! An adorable dwarf toothless short-snouted suction feeding dolphin from SC @cofcnathistory https://t.co/eL0O1wEZIy pic.twitter.com/UMwnVvHMKZ

— Robert Boessenecker (@CoastalPaleo) August 23, 2017

"Inermorostrum took only four million years to evolve from ancestral whales with precisely occluding teeth into a toothless, suction feeding specialist," said study author Robert Boessenecker.

Source: Phys.org | Comments (3)

Tags: Dolphin