A new, diminutive Eocene whale from Kachchh (Gujarat, India) and its implications for locomotor evolution of cetaceans

Abstract

Our recent paleontological field work in the middle Eocene Harudi Formation of Kachchh (western India) has yielded a partial skeleton of a new species of Eocene cetaceans, here named Kutchicetus minimus. The new species represents a new genus in the family Remingtonocetidae and is smaller than any other Eocene whale. The skeleton includes teeth, skull fragments, limb bones and a relatively complete vertebral column. Vertebral proportions indicate that the vertebral column of the new cetacean functioned in different ways from any other known Eocene or Recent cetacean. It suggests that the mobility of the back may have approximated that of otters.