Exploring Georgia's Natural History
  • Natural History & Geology
    • Podcast; The Tivola Whale
    • Coastal Plain Correlation Chart
    • GA Paleo Research by Paul F. Huddlestun PhD >
      • Late Eocene & Older... Coastal Plain Stratigraphy
      • Washington County Core Logs By Paul Huddlestun
      • Coastal Plain Core Logs by Paul F. Huddlestun
    • Presentation; Oaky Woods Stratigraphy
    • Physiographic Map of Georgia
    • Fossils of Oaky Woods
    • Collections & Stewardship of Georgia’s Fossils
    • I, Periarchus (A Fossil's Tale)
    • Georgia's Amateurs >
      • Amateur; Jared Dyche, On The Way To A Degree
      • Cam Muskelly, Duluth, GA
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        • Kyle Keller Returns, Still Rocking!
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    • Public Fossil Locations >
      • South Houston County Fossils
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  • Education Material
    • My Field Kit; What You Need In The Field
    • Meet Crassostrea gigantissima, Georgia's Historic Giant Oyster
    • Georgiacetus Presentation; A Whale for Georgia
    • The Natural History & Fossils Record of Houston County, GA
    • Evolution in Georgia's Fossil Record
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    • Georgia's Paleontology For Georgia's Classrooms
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    • An Introduction To Fossils; Presentation
    • Georgia's Fossils Presentation; 500 million years
    • Georgia College Natural History Museum
  • Meteorites
    • Did I Find A Meteorite?
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  • 1: Georgia's Oldest Fossils; Archaeocyathids, At 513 Million Years Old
  • 2: Trilobites; 500 Million Years Ago
    • 2A; Murray County Stromatolites
    • 2B; A Trilobite Nest in Georgia
  • 3: Geologic Time
  • 4: Our Oldest Vertebrate?
  • 5: Georgia Before the Dinosaurs
    • 5A; Georgia’s Pennsylvanian Plant Fossils
    • 5B: Carpentertypus durhami, Georgia’s Giant Insect, 315 Million Years Ago
  • 6: 200 Million Years Ago
    • 6A: Birth of the Atlantic Ocean
  • 7: Cretaceous Georgia, Dinosaurs & more
    • 7A: Georgias Pterosaur
    • 7C: Coelecanths
    • 7B: So Many Sharks
    • 7D: Xiphactinus vetus
    • 7E: Side-necked turtles
    • 7F: Marine Reptiles
    • 7G: Dinosaurs in Georgia
    • 7I; The Blufftown Formation
    • 7L: Bill Montante's Mega "Gator" Tooth Discovery
    • 7K: The Pio Nono Formation
    • 7J: The Eutaw Formation
    • 7H: Deinosuchus schwimmeri in Recognition of Dr. David Schwimmer
  • 8: Suwannee Current, Gulf Trough, & Bridgeboro Limestone
  • 9: The Clayton Formation Report; By Hank Josey
    • 9A: The Georgia Turtle
  • 10: The Eocene; Georgia's Oldest Mammals
    • 10A: The Origins of Whales
  • 11: A Whale For Georgia
  • 12: Basilosaurids; The First Modern Whales
    • 12A: Basilosaurus cetoides
    • 12B: Basilotritus
    • 12C: Cynthiacetus (Revised)
    • 12D: Chrysocetus
    • 12E: The Redmond Mandible of Albany Ga
    • 12F; Houston County, GA Basilosaurus to the Smithsonian
  • 13: Ziggy and The Museum of Arts & Sciences, Macon, GA
  • 14: Late Eocene
    • 14A: Eocene Fossils & Stratigraphy
    • 14B; Fossils, Impacts, & Tektites Dating the Clinchfield Formation
    • 14C: The Tivola Limestone
    • 14D: Twiggs Clay Vertebrates
    • 14F; Sandersville Limestone, By Hank Josey
    • 14E: Ocmulgee Formation Vertebrates
    • 14I: Dating Late Eocene Sediments
    • 14J: Georgia's Tektites; Georgiaites
    • 14K; Shell Bluff; Georgia's Most Historic Paleontology Site
    • 14L; Taylors Bluff, Paleo Paddling the Ocmulgee River
    • 14M; Eocene Terrestrial Mammals From Gordon, GA
    • 14N: Fossil Ridge, A Stratigraphic Study in Oaky Woods Wildlife Management Area
    • 14O; Georgia's First Entelodont
    • 14P: Historic Rich Hill
    • 14Q; Bibb County's Christy Hill, Clinchfield Formation Hilltop
  • 15: Early Oligocene
    • 15A: The Marianna Limestone
    • 15B; The Glendon Limestone
    • 15C: Undiffereniated Oligocene Residuum
    • 15D; Brissus bridgeboroensis; A New Echinoid Species From Georgia’s Bridgeboro Limestone
    • 15E: The Curious Steinkern Sea Biscuits of Red Dog Farm Road
    • 15F: Early Oligocene Gordian Knot
  • 16: Bonaire GA Entelodont
  • 17: The Whale Eating Shark
  • 18: Miocene Epoch; 23.3 to 5.3 Million Years Ago
    • 18A; Miocene Terrestrial Vertebrates
    • 18B; Paul Fell, Rockhouse Cave
    • 18C: The Marks Head Formation
    • 18D: Miocene Terrestrial Vertebrates of the Marks Head Formation
    • 18E: The Statenville Formation
    • 18F: South Georgia’s Dugong Metaxytherium calvertense
  • 19: Pliocene Epoch; 5.3 to 2.5 Million years Ago
    • 19A; Two Small Primitive Horses from Taylor County
  • 20: The Ice Ages; Pleistocene & Holocene Epochs
    • 20A; Clark Quarry's Mammoths & Bison
    • 20B: Pleistocene Vertebrate List
    • 20C: Georgia’s Eolian Dunes
    • 20D: Georgia’s Carolina Bays
    • 20E: Late Pleistocene Significant Events
    • 20F: Southeastern Thermal Enclave
    • 20G; Diamond Back Terrapins
    • 20H; A Kaolin Mine Beaver Dam
    • 20I; Pleistocene Vertebrate Fossils On Georgia’s Piedmont
    • 20J; Watkins Quarry Pleistocene Vertebrates, Glynn County, GA
  • *NEW* 20K: Pleistocene Vertebrates from Coastal Georgia
  • 21: Humans in Georgia
  • 22: Geology of the Coastal Plain, 1911
    • 22A: 1911 Cretaceous Fossil Locations
    • 22B: 1911 Eocene Fossil Locations
  • 23: Coastal GA Locations (1957)
  • 24: Needed; The Georgia Geologic Survey
  • Building This Site
    • Origins Of This Site
    • Contributing Artists
    • Black & White Sketches

12B: Basilotritus
By Thomas Thurman


Within the basilosaurid family we begin with the genus Basilotritus the genre was widespread during the very late Bartonian Stage; say 37.5 to 38 million years ago. Basilosaurids are recognized by their typical basilosaurid teeth, largish, triangular, twin rooted molars possessing prominent serrations. The origins of those teeth can be glimpsed in Georgiacetus, whose molars aren’t serrated but show a trend towards that direction. 

Basilotritus has serrated molars. The genus is represented by two species; Basilotritus uheni, named in honor of Dr. Mark Uhen, and Basilotritus wardii. Currently these are considered the most primitive members of the basilosaurid family. 

Basilotritus uheni was described in March, 2013 by Ukrainian researchers Dr. Pavel Gol'din and Dr. Evgenij Zvonok in a paper published by the Paleontological Society’s Journal of Paleontology and entitled; Basilotritus uheni, a New Cetacean (Cetacea, Basilosauridae) from the Late Middle Eocene of Eastern Europe. 

Basilotritus uheni is known from North Carolina, Virginia, Egypt, Germany, Russia and the Ukraine. This find represents Eastern Europe’s earliest known whale. The species shows the beginnings of that elongated vertebra structure which lead towards the great size of later basilosaurids.       

Basilotritus wardii (Formerly Eocetus wardii) is a smaller animal, closer to the proto-whales in size and lacking elongated vertebrae. Currently it is only known from the Bartonian Stage of the Eocene and confirmed only in North Carolina and Virginia. The species was originally described by Dr. Marc Uhen in 1999 from the North Carolina specimen. A molar from Basilotritus wardii shows the serrated molars which are typical of the basilosaurid family but lacking in the proto-whales. 

The hip structure of Basilotritus wardii is known from a single innominate (hip bone) and partial hind limb, and when compared to Georgiacetus the innominate is “greatly reduced”; to quote Uhen.  Further quoting Uhen; it is “clearly not reduced as much as the innominate of other basilosaurids like Basilosaurus, Chrysocetus, and Cynthiacetus.” 

Uhen goes on to theorize that the serrated molars, or cheek teeth, which distinguish the basilosaurids emerged before the greater reduction of the hind limbs, the acquisition of additional vertebrae and perhaps even before flukes.

With the current state of the fossil record, the best professional guess right now is that the genus Basilotritus lacked flukes, but possessed basilosaurid teeth. It is a clear link between the proto-whales like Georgiacetus and the basilosaurids, an intermediate species. 

Basilotritus lived between 38 and 37 million years ago, just before the emergence of the fluked Basilosaurus cetoides, and while the hip and partial leg structure of Basilotritus is known, vertebrae from the end of its tail have not yet been recovered and reviewed by science. As Dr. Uhen points out; “Additional, more complete specimens of these and related taxa will be needed to confirm or refute this hypothesis.”

References:
Basilosaurid Evolution
A Review of North American Basilosauridae: Mark D. Uhen, 2013. Bulletin 31, Vol. 2, Alabama Museum of Natural History, April,1, 2013