Mammalia - Artiodactyla - Ziphiidae

PaleoDB taxon number: 81908

Alternative combination: Mesoplodon mirum

Full reference: F. W. True. 1913. Diagnosis of a new beaked whale of the genus Mesoplodon from the coast of North Carolina. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 60(25):1-2

Belongs to Mesoplodon according to O. Lambert and S. Louwye 2016

Sister taxa: Mesoplodon bidens, Mesoplodon bononiensis, Mesoplodon bowdoini, Mesoplodon carlhubbsi, Mesoplodon danconae, Mesoplodon densirostris, Mesoplodon europaeus, Mesoplodon ginkgodens, Mesoplodon grayi, Mesoplodon hectori, Mesoplodon hotaula, Mesoplodon lawleyi, Mesoplodon layardii, Mesoplodon longirostris, Mesoplodon medilineatus, Mesoplodon meneghinii, Mesoplodon perrini, Mesoplodon peruvianus, Mesoplodon posti, Mesoplodon slangkopi, Mesoplodon stejnegeri, Mesoplodon traversii, Mesoplodon tumidirostris, Ziphius gibbus, Ziphius tenuirostris, Ziphius (Dolichodon) geelongensis

Type specimen: USNM 175019, a skeleton (skull & partial skeleton). Its type locality is Beaufort Harbor, which is in a Holocene coastal horizon in North Carolina.

Ecology: scansorial piscivore-carnivore

Average measurements (in mm): humerus length 133.0, radius length 153.0, skull 795.8 x 349.9, ulna length 169.0

Estimated body mass: 1.13 tons based on humerus length, radius length, and ulna length