''Metopocetus'' is an extinct genus of

baleen whale Baleen whales (), also known as whalebone whales, are marine mammals of the order (biology), parvorder Mysticeti in the infraorder Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises), which use baleen plates (or "whalebone") in their mouths to sieve plankt ...

belonging to the family

Cetotheriidae Cetotheriidae is a family of baleen whales (parvorder Mysticeti). The family is known to have existed from the Late Oligocene to the Early Pleistocene before going extinct. Although some phylogenetic studies conducted by recovered the living py ...

. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is ''Metopocetus durinasus''.

Description

''Metopocetus'' is diagnosable by lateral occipital crests continuous with temporal crests that diverge forward, as well as elongate frontals, and short nasal bones that project posterior to frontals.

Location

''Metopocetus durinasus'' is known only from the middle Miocene (

Langhian The Langhian is, in the ICS geologic timescale, an age or stage in the middle Miocene Epoch/Series. It spans the time between 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma and 13.65 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago) during the Middle Miocene.GeoWhen (2007) The Langhian was ...

) Calvert Beach Member of the Calvert Formation of Westmoreland County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. Its type specimen is USNM 8518. On the other hand, ''Metopocetus hunteri'' is based on a partial cranium from the Breda Formation of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18344199 Cetotheriidae Miocene cetaceans Prehistoric cetacean genera Fossil taxa described in 1896 Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope