New species of fossil cetaceans discovered

New species Olympicetus thalassodon

In the illustration, a reconstruction of the new species Olympicetus thalassodon. (Illustration / Cullen Townsend) (Supplied)

Between January and March, whale watching in the northwest area of ​​Puerto Rico is quite common, and the visits are part of their migration route from the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean.

Many of those who are lucky enough to see these cetaceans swim near the island are unaware that they have been part of marine ecosystems for more than 30 million years. One of the scientists who, through the study of whale fossils, has managed to discover part of its enormous thousand-year-old biodiversity is the Puerto Rican Jorge Vélez Juarbe.

Vélez Juarbe, originally from Isabela, works for the Department of Mammalogy at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, in California. The scientist is an active collaborator in multiple research projects, in which his expertise in manatee and cetacean fossils is essential, and his two most recent research articles demonstrate this.

The first of the articles, published in the professional journal "PeerJ", describes the discovery of various fossil toothed cetaceans, that is, toothed cetaceans such as orcas, porpoises, sperm whales, beaked whales, belugas, narwhals and dolphins. . These fossils are between 26 million and 30 million years old, among the oldest ever discovered.

One of the fossils mentioned in "PeerJ" is new to science. Lacking a scientific name, the researchers named it Olympicetus thalassodon (abbreviated O. thalassodon). Olympicetus comes from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, the area where the fossil was discovered. The species name, thalassodon, comes from the Greek words for sea (thalassa) and tooth (odon).  Read more below: 

Link to Article from "El Nuevo Dia" Newspaper