Aetiocetus is an extinct genus of baleen whale that lived 25 million years ago, in the Oligocene period. Its fossils have been found in the North Pacific,[1] around Oregon. It was first named by Emlong in 1966 and contains four species, A cotylalveus, A. polydentatus, A. tomitai, and A. weltoni.
Aetiocetus is a transitional fossil between Pakicetus and the modern gray whale. [2] It is the earliest-known baleen whale.[3] The genus, though more cranially reminiscent of archaic whales, with its pronounced snout and flat cranium,[4] had a loose jaw like later baleen whales.[3]Aetiocetus skulls have also shown that the animal bore a full set of teeth,[3][5] as well as baleen.[4][6] The skulls contain about forty-four teeth,[7] which consist of cusped molars, curved canines, and incisors.[4]Aetiocetus most likely fed on fish and crustaceans.[4]
Emlong originally classified it as an Archaeoceti,[8][9] because of its teeth. However, when Van Valen analyzed it in 1968, he renamed it under Mysticete because of its derieved pattern of bone telescoping.[9]
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