Orcinus citoniensis
Encyclopedia
Orcinus citoniensis is an extinct species
of whale
belonging to the family
Delphinidae that lived from in the Pliocene
.
The species was related to the modern killer whale. Was described based on an incomplete skull found in Italy
, which lacks the rear and left side, but had the back side. Had 14 teeth in each jaw, more numerous than the current orca. This specimen could be 4 metres long and had the appearance of a small killer whale, so it could be a transitional species between early dolphins and the modern killer whale.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
belonging to 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...
Delphinidae that lived from in the Pliocene
Pliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
.
The species was related to the modern killer whale. Was described based on an incomplete skull found in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, which lacks the rear and left side, but had the back side. Had 14 teeth in each jaw, more numerous than the current orca. This specimen could be 4 metres long and had the appearance of a small killer whale, so it could be a transitional species between early dolphins and the modern killer whale.