What is Pakicetus?
{{Taxobox | name = ''Pakicetus'' | fossil_range = early [[Eocene]], 49{{ndash}}33.9 mya | image = File:Pakicetus attocki Skelton.jpg | image_width = 250px | domain = [[Eukaryota]] | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | classis = [[Mammalia]] | ordo = [[Cetacea]] | subordo = [[Archaeoceti]] | familia = [[Pakicetidae]] | genus = '''''Pakicetus''''' | binomial = ''Pakicetus inachus''}} '''Pakicetus''' is a [[genus]] of extinct [[cetacean]]s found in the early [[Eocene]] of [[Pakistan]] 55.8 ± 0.2 - 33.9 ± 0.1 million years ago (mya). The [[strata]] where the fossils were found was then on the coast of the [[Tethys Sea]].<ref>Gingerich, Philip D. & Russell, Donald E. 1981. Pakicetus inachus, a new Archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the early-middle Eocene Kuldana Formation of Kohat (Pakistan). ''Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, The Museum of Michigan''. '''25''' (11): 235–246.</ref> == Description == The first [[fossil]], a lone [[skull]], was thought to be of an entelodont known as [[Daeodon|Daedon]], but Gingerich and Russell recognized it as an early cetacean. It had characteristics of the [[inner ear]] which are found only in cetaceans: the large auditory bulla is formed from the ectotympanic bone only. This suggests that it is a [[transitional species]] between extinct land mammals and modern cetaceans.<ref>Gingerich, Philip D. ''et al'' 1983. Origin of whales in epicontinental remnant seas: new evidence from the early Eocene of Pakistan. ''Science''. '''220''' (4595): 403–6. [http://science.sciencemag.org/content/220/4595/403]. PMID 17831411.</ref> Complete skeletons were discovered in 2001. ''Pakicetus'' was primarily a land animal, about the size of a wolf, and very similar in form to the related ''[[Mesonyx]]''. == References == {{reflist}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q310503}} [[Category:Cetaceans]]