Systematics
It was originally classified as the most primitive beaked whale, being placed in a separate subfamily, Squaloziphiinae, (followed by Fordyce and Muizon 2001) but later authors have placed it outside Ziphiidae as either Odontoceti ''incertae sedis'' or closely related to Ziphiidae. The description of the archaic odontocete ''Yaquinacetus'' demonstrated that ''Squaloziphius'' was by no means part of Ziphiidae and that these two taxa are more primitive than crown Odontoceti, necessitating elevation of Squaloziphiinae to full familial status, as Squaloziphiidae. Olivier Lambert, Stephen J. Godfrey & Erich M. G. Fitzgerald (2018) Yaquinacetus meadi, a new latest Oligocene–early Miocene dolphin (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Squaloziphiidae, fam. nov.) from the Nye Mudstone (Oregon, U.S.A.), Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 38:6, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2018.1559174References
Prehistoric toothed whales Prehistoric cetacean genera Fossil taxa described in 1991 Extinct mammals of North America Miocene cetaceans {{paleo-whale-stub