CGM 60584 defines Aegicetus gehennae and is routed under Protocetidae through Georgiacetinae; this classification is not a direct ancestor statement.
claim:taxon:aegicetus:taxonomyAegicetus
Holotype CGM 60584 combines a long posterior trunk, unfused sacrals, no weight-bearing sacroiliac joint and reduced limbs in a model of increasing tail propulsion.
Represented range37.71–37.71 Ma
Content packagecetartiodactyla
PBDBtxn:401055
Evidence boundary
Automated checks cover structure, identifiers, translations and links only; maintainer and external expert review are not complete.
Claim ledger
The profile represents lower Gehannam Formation material from Wadi Al Hitan and does not establish the full range of Aegicetus.
claim:taxon:aegicetus:biogeographyMarine predation and tail-driven swimming are anatomical inferences; prey, performance and a tail fluke were not directly preserved.
claim:taxon:aegicetus:ecologyCGM 60584 preserves much associated postcranium with an elongate trunk, unfused sacrals, reduced limbs and no weight-bearing sacroiliac joint.
claim:taxon:aegicetus:morphologyThe 37.71 Ma display point exposes a boundary translation amid conflicting stratigraphic evidence and is not an exact specimen date, FAD or LAD.
claim:taxon:aegicetus:fossil-rangeKnown limits
- A missing branch or fossil occurrence does not imply biological absence. Internal nodes are not calibrated divergence estimates.
References
- Aegicetus gehennae, a new late Eocene protocetid (Cetacea, Archaeoceti) from Wadi Al Hitan, Egypt, and the transition to tail-powered swimming in whalesGingerich, P.D.; Antar, M.S.M.; Zalmout, I.S. · 2019 · DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0225391
- Open Tree of Life web servicesOpenTreeOfLife Project
- The Paleobiology Database application programming interfacePeters, S.E.; McClennen, M. · 2016 · DOI 10.1017/pab.2015.39
- Correction: Aegicetus gehennae, a new late Eocene protocetid and the transition to tail-powered swimming in whalesThe PLOS ONE Staff · 2020 · DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0230596
- Denormalized occurrence and taxon tables of the Paleobiology DatabaseThe Paleobiology Database Community; Kocsis, Á.T. · 2026 · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21620933