Babiacetus


Babiacetus is an extinct genus of early cetacean that lived during the late Lutetian middle Eocene of India.
It was named after its type locality, the Harudi Formation in the Babia Hills, Kutch District, Gujarat, India.

Discovery

Babiacetus was named by in an abstract based on the specimen's type. Gingerich and colleagues found a skull while collecting a skeleton of a new species of Protosiren in the Drazinda Formation in the Sulaiman Range of Punjab, Pakistan. described both the original find and their new specimen.
described B. mishrai from the specimen collected in the Harudi Formation.

Description

Babiacetus is one of the larger protocetids weighing about. Its hydrodynamic skull and pointed, anteroposteriorly oriented incisors are typical of archaeocetes. A densely ossified auditory bulla and large mandibular canal indicate it was adapted for hearing in water. Babiacetus differs from pakicetids and ambulocetids by the large mandibular foramen and a medially concave ascending ramus; distinct from remingtonocetids and basilosaurids by the single-cusped trigonid and talonid on the lower molars. Its long synostotic mandibular symphysis, which reaches as far back as P2, distinguishes it from Pappocetus and Georgiacetus. Its auditory bulla is more narrow than Rodhocetus'. Babiacetus lacks the prominent molar protocone present in Indocetus. The anterior premolars are large.
The mandible is longer in B. indicus than in B. mishrai, and P1 is single-rooted in the former but double-rooted in the latter. The diastemata between P1 and P4 in B. indicus is absent in B. mishrai. B. indicus has larger cheek teeth and a larger M3.

Palaeobiology

The teeth of Babiacetus exhibit substantial spalling, suggesting that this cetacean fed on hard-bodied prey of relatively large size. To date, only cranial remains have been found, hence nothing is known of Babicetus' mode of locomotion or degree of aquatic adaptation.