''Stromerius'' is an extinct genus of basilosaurid early whale known from the

Late Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', "d ...

(

Priabonian The Priabonian is, in the ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age or the upper stage of the Eocene Epoch or Series. It spans the time between . The Priabonian is preceded by the Bartonian and is followed by the Rupelian, the lowest stage ...

, ) of

Fayum Faiyum ( ar, الفيوم ' , borrowed from cop, ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ or Ⲫⲓⲱⲙ ' from egy, pꜣ ym "the Sea, Lake") is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyu ...

, Egypt (, paleocoordinates ). ''Stromerius'' is known from several well-preserved vertebrae. Distinguishing features for the genus include: long and forward-pointing metapophyses (bony processes) on the

lumbar vertebra The lumbar vertebrae are, in human anatomy, the five vertebrae between the rib cage and the pelvis. They are the largest segments of the vertebral column and are characterized by the absence of the foramen transversarium within the transverse ...

e; a relatively short lumbar spine with only twelve vertebrae of which four are interpreted as homologous to sacral vertebrae; one of the two thoracic vertebrae found has a dorsally-pointing

neural spine The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...

interpreted as anticlinal (i.e. the spines of the other vertebrae are inclined towards this specific vertebra) which is a primitive retention in ''Stromerius'' not present in other basilosaurids. ''Stromerius'' is larger than the contemporary ''

Saghacetus ''Saghacetus'' is an extinct genus of basilosaurid early whale, fossils of which have been found in the Upper Eocene (middle Priabonian, ) Qasr el Sagha Formation, Egypt (, paleocoordinates ). In 1879, German botanist Georg August Schwein ...

'' but smaller than the older ''

Dorudon ''Dorudon'' ("spear-tooth") is a genus of extinct basilosaurid ancient whales that lived alongside '' Basilosaurus'' 40.4 to 33.9 million years ago in the Eocene. It was a small whale, with ''D. atrox'' measuring long and weighing . ''Dorudon' ...

''. made ''S. nidensis'' the

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

of the subfamily "Stromeriinae", but only mentioned this proposed subfamily briefly in his abstract. The genus is named for German palaeontologist Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach who made a ground-breaking work in the recovery of whale fossils in Egypt. The species' name comes from Latin ''nidus'', "nest", after the Arabic name of the type locality Garet el Esh, "hill of the nest". They are two specimens: described and illustrated BSPM 1902.XI.504-510, seven vertebrae, and described UM 100140, 19 complete or partial vertebrae.

Notes

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q9080124 Basilosauridae Prehistoric cetacean genera Fossil taxa described in 2007 Eocene mammals of Africa