Himalayacetus is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of carnivorous aquatic mammal

Aquatic mammal

Aquatic and semi-aquatic mammals are a diverse group of mammals that dwell partly or entirely in bodies of water. They include the various marine mammals who dwell in oceans, as well as various freshwater species, such as the Platypus and the European Otter.-Groups:* Order Sirenia: Sirenians**...

 of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Ambulocetidae

Ambulocetidae

Ambulocetidae is a family of early cetaceans from Pakistan that still were able to walk on land. The genus Ambulocetus, after which the family is named, is by far the most complete and well-known ambulocetid genus due to the discovery by Thewissen et al. of a partially complete specimen of...

 from the coastline of the ancient Tethys Ocean

Tethys Ocean

The Tethys Ocean was an ocean that existed between the continents of Gondwana and Laurasia during the Mesozoic era before the opening of the Indian Ocean.-Modern theory:...

 during the Eocene

Eocene

The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...

, living from 55.8—48.6 mya, existing for approximately .

Himalayacetus lived in the ancient coastline of the ancient Tethys Ocean before the Indian Plate had collided with the Cimmeria

Cimmerian Plate

The Cimmerian Plate is an ancient tectonic plate that comprises parts of present-day Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indochina and Malaya regions. The Cimmerian Plate was formerly part of the ancient supercontinent of Pangaea. Pangaea was shaped like a vast "C", facing east, and inside of the...

n coast. A single fossil was found in the Himalayas

Himalayas

The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...

.

Taxonomy

Himalayacetus was named by Bajpai and Gingerich (1998). Its type is Himalayacetus subathuensis. It was considered monophyletic by Uhen (2010). It was assigned to Pakicetid

Pakicetid

Pakicetids or Pakicetidae are a carnivorous mammal family of the suborder Archaeoceti which lived during the Early Eocene to Middle Eocene in Pakistan and existed for approximately ....

ae by Bajpai and Gingerich (1998) and McLeod and Barnes (2008); and to Ambulocetidae by Thewissen et al. (2001) and Uhen (2010).