Mississippi State Fossil
Basilosaurus (common name) Basilosaurus cetoides (scientific name) STATUS Official  DESCRIPTION Basilosaurus cetoides is an extinct species of the cetacean family, which comprises whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Basilosaurus is one of the most common primitive whales, classified as archaeocetes by paleontologists. When Basilosaurus cetoides was first discovered in the early 19th century, sea serpent sightings were common, and this long, narrow marine animal was erroneously thought to be a lizard or sea monster. Further study revealed that basilosaurus was actually a meat-eating member of the whale family. Unlike modern whales, however, basilosaurus possessed small hind legs in addition to its forelegs, and also had yoke-shaped teeth. This whale was an apex predator, which means it was normally at the top of the food chain, having no natural predators. STATE SYMBOL Significant skeleton fossils of Basilosaurus cetoides have been found in Mississippi among other Gulf Coast states. Several partial or complete skeletons were found in Madison County. A skeleton is on display at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. The current Mississippi coastline is believed to have been underwater in the Eocene period, when this ancient whale lived. On March 26, 1981, the Mississippi senate designated two official state fossils:Basilosaurus cetoides and Zygorhiza kocchii, both Eocene whales. Basilosaurus cetoides is also the state fossil of Alabama. NAME ORIGIN The word basilosaur comes from the Greek words for "king of the lizards." The fossil was so named in 1832 by Richard Harlan from a specimen discovered in Louisiana. When this whale was later discovered not to be a lizard, renaming it Zeuglodon cetoides (genusBasilosaurus) was considered. (Zeuglodon cetoides means "whale-like yoke teeth.") However, under the rules that govern species naming, the earliest name for a species has priority, even if that name is not an accurate description. BIOLOGY/ANATOMY Basilosaurus’ body was extremely long and narrow for a whale, and has been described as being the closest a whale ever came to resembling a snake. These whales averaged from 55 to 80 feet (16.8 to 24.4 m) long and are believed to have been the largest animals of their time. Because the ancient whale’s vertebrae were similarly sized, it probably moved like an eel, only vertically. The mammal’s head was too small to hold a melon organ, the organ in modern whales, dolphins, and porpoises that aids in echolocation. The prehistoric whale’s brain is smaller than that of modern cetaceans as well, implying that basilosaurus did not have the social abilities its modern counterparts possess. EVOLUTION/EXTINCTION Whales evolved from land animals, which may be the reasonBasilosaurus cetoides resembled land mammals more than it did modern whales. Basilosaurus was a very specialized kind of whale. Unlike modern whales, this aquatic creature had fore and hind legs, as well as teeth that differed in size. And instead of a blowhole, basilosaurus breathed from nostrils on the nose. Approximately 34 million years ago, abrupt cooling of the earth’s climate occurred simultaneously with changing ocean circulation. The combination of these factors led to the extinction of Basilosauruscetoides and most ancient whales at the end of the Eocene epoch. MODERN DISCOVERY Basilosaurus cetoides lived in the Gulf of Mexico, and its fossils are found in the Gulf Coast region of the United States, mainly in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. It was first discovered along the Ouachita River in Alabama and Louisiana, and later was found to be quite common throughout the Gulf Coastal Plain. Many fossils of this ancient whale have been found in Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, and Florida in the United States, as well as in Egypt and Australia. TRIVIA In 19th-century America, discoveries of basilosaurus skeletons were so common that they were used to make furniture and fireplace andirons. In the 1851 novel Moby Dick, author Herman Melville relays the story of the discovery of the Alabama basilosaurus and the subsequent discovery that it was a marine mammal.
	Click to enlarge an image Partial Basilosaurus Skeleton Skeleton at the Smithsonian CLASSIFICATION Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Cetacea Suborder: Archaeoceti Family: Basilosauridae Subfamily: Basilosaurinae Genus: Basilosaurus
	Author: World Trade Press