Matapanui
Matapanui is a genus of eomysticetid baleen whale from the Late Oligocene (early Chattian) Kokoamu Greensand of New Zealand.
| Matapanui | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Eomysticetidae |
| Genus: | †Matapanui Boessenecker and Fordyce, 2016 |
| Species | |
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Matapa Boessenecker and Fordyce, 2016 | |
Taxonomy
Matapanui was originally named Matapa, but that name was already in use for a genus of butterfly, necessitating the name change.[1][2]
Paleobiology
Based on the enlarged temporal fossae and enlarged mandibular canal, Matapanui was probably incapable of lunge-feeding, although it remains unclear whether it could skim-feed or filter prey in the benthic zone. Waharoa shared its habitat with the odontocetes Awamokoa, Austrosqualodon, Otekaikea, and Waipatia, and the mysticetes Horopeta, Mauicetus, Tohoraata, Tokarahia, Waharoa, and Whakakai.
gollark: Why specifically *those*?
gollark: If you just define anything which happens as being part of the balance retroactively, then it is not meaningful to complain about it.
gollark: Well, it's a thing which happens in nature.
gollark: There was an experiment which wanted to demonstrate group selection. They put flies that in an environment with limited resources which could only support so many fly children. If nature was nice and kind, they would magically turn down their breeding. As is quite obvious in retrospect, evolutionary processes would *never do this* and they cannibalized each other's young.
gollark: There are nasty things like those various parasitic wasps.
References
- Robert W. Boessenecker; R. Ewan Fordyce (2016). "A new eomysticetid from the Oligocene Kokoamu Greensand of New Zealand and a review of the Eomysticetidae (Mammalia, Cetacea)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Online edition. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1191045.
- Robert W. Boessenecker; R. Ewan Fordyce (2016). "Matapanui, a replacement name for Matapa Boessenecker & Fordyce, 2016". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Online edition. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1210070.
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