What is the Archaeoceti?
Q: What is the Archaeoceti?
A: The Archaeoceti, also known as Zeuglodontes in older literature, is a group of primitive cetaceans that lived from the early Eocene to the late Oligocene, 55–23 million years ago.
Q: What are the two modern suborders that descended from Archaeoceti?
A: The two modern suborders that descended from Archaeoceti are Mysticeti and Odontoceti.
Q: Where did Archaeoceti evolve?
A: Archaeoceti evolved in the shallow waters that separated India and Asia 55–45 million years ago.
Q: How many species of Archaeocete have been found?
A: About 30 species of Archaeocete have been found which were adapted to a fully oceanic life.
Q: When did echolocation and filter-feeding evolve in cetaceans?
A: Echolocation and filter-feeding evolved later, in a second radiation 36 to 35 million years ago.
Q: Where were archaeocete genera located by 41–34 mya?
A: By 41–34 mya genera of archaeocete were known across the Earth, including North America, Egypt, New Zealand, and Europe.
Q: How did they get to North America?
A: It is very unlikely that they were as well-adapted to open ocean travel as living cetaceans so it is thought they got to North America along coastal waters either around Africa or over the Tethys Sea (between Eurasia and Africa) and along coasts of Europe, Greenland, and North America.
