Kentriodontidae


Kentriodontidae is an extinct family of odontocete whales related to modern dolphins. The Kentriodontidae lived from the Oligocene to the Pliocene before going extinct.

Taxonomy

Kentriodontids have been variously divided into three or four subfamilies: Kampholophinae, Kentriodontinae, Lophocetinae, and Pithanodelphinae. However, recent cladistic studies have recovered Kentriodontidae as paraphyletic. For instance, "Lophocetus" pappus may be a close relative of Lipotidae, "Delphinodon" dividum is basal to other delphinidans, Incacetus is probably a member of Inioidea, and Atocetus and Lophocetus have been recovered as a pontoporiid and ziphiid sister taxon respectively, while Hadrodelphis, Kampholophos, Macrokentriodon, and "Lophocetus" pappus are recovered in a clade phylogenetically intermediate between Kentriodon and derived delphinidans. Peredo et al. restrict Kentriodon to Kampholophos, Kentriodon, Rudicetus, and Wimahl, and remove Pithanodelphininae and its putative constituent genera as well as Microphocaena from Kentriodontidae.

Genera