Mycteriacetus is an extinct genus of dolphin from the Early Miocene (Burdigalian) of northeastern Italy. The type species is M. bellunensis.
Etymology Mycteriacetus is named after the Yellow-billed stork (Mycteria ibis) because the bill of that species is as long as the rostrum of Mycteriacetus.O. Lambert. 2004. Systematic revision of the Miocene long-snouted dolphin Eurhinodelphis longirostris Du Bus, 1872. Bulletin de l'Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre 74:147-174.
Taxonomy Mycteriacetus bellunensis was originally named as a new species of Eurhinodelphis, E. bellunensis, by Pilleri (1985).G. Pilleri. 1985. The Miocene Cetacea of the Belluno Sandstones (Eastern Southern Alps). Memoire degli Instituti di Geologia e Mineralogia dell'Universita di Padova 37:1-250. However, Bianucci and Landini (2002) transferred this species to Argyrocetus, creating the new combination A. bellunensis.G. Bianucci and W. Landini. 2002. Change in diversity, ecological significance and biogeographical relationships of the Mediterranean Miocene toothed whale fauna. Geobios Mémoire spécial 24:19-28 Lambert (2004) eventually recognized E. bellunensis as sufficiently distinct from Eurhinodelphis and Argyrocetus to warrant a new genus, Mycteriacetus.
References