A new record of Notocetus vanbenedeni (Squalodelphinidae, Odontoceti, Cetacea) from the Early Miocene of Peru

Abstract

An almost complete skull with associated periotics and one cervical vertebra from the Early Miocene strata of the Chilcatay Formation (Pisco Basin, Peru) is described here and referred to Notocetus vanbenedeni, a species previously recorded from Argentina, belonging to the extinct odontocete family Squalodelphinidae (Platanistoidea). The fossil was collected in the same locality and approximately the same stratigraphical horizon as Huaridelphis raimondii, suggesting the sympatric coexistence of two squalodelphinids during the Early Miocene along the Pacific coast of South America. Considering the new record here described, N. vanbenedeni lived both along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America, two marine areas in wide contact during the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene. Despite the relative commonness of squalodelphinids in the Chilcatay Fm., the worldwide record of this family remains globally rather scarce and significant specimens were only found in Italy, France, along the East Coast of USA, Argentina, Peru, and possibly New Zealand.