File:Llanocetus denticrinatus.jpg

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Frontal view from below of the skull of a Llanocetus denticrenatus in the Sant Hall of Oceans in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. The name is a tribute to Dr. George Llanos, and is combined with the Latin name for whale ("cetus"). "Denticrenatus" means "small-toothed." It is an intermediate form between toothed and baleen whales.

Llanocetus denticrenatus is the oldest known mysticete (or baleen whale). It was discovered in the La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island in Antarctica in 1989. Only the skull has been unearthed so far; the skeleton has yet to be fully unearthed and described. It probably lived 34 to 35 million years ago in colder seas near the Antarctic. It had tiny peg-like teeth which jutted out in a fan-like spread from a larger tooth (which was covered over by the gums). From these teeth grew primitive baleen (stuff like your fingernails are made of). These baleen-growing teeth were very widely separated within the jaw.

The skull is long and narrow, somewhat looking like a dolphin's. The upper jaw is exceptionally slender (more so than the lower jaw), and the lower jaw is exceptionally wide at the rear.

It's not entirely clear what the body looked like, but it probably looked like a minke whale. It was about 30 feet long (9 m).
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Llanocetus denticrinatus skull 01 - Smithsonian

Author Tim from Washington, D.C., United States of America

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This image, originally posted to Flickr, was reviewed on February 20, 2012 by the administrator or reviewer File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske), who confirmed that it was available on Flickr under the stated license on that date.

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current18:41, 19 February 20122,000 × 1,333 (429 KB)File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske){{Information |Description=Frontal view from below of the skull of a Llanocetus denticrenatus in the Sant Hall of Oceans in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. The name is a tribute to Dr. George Llanos, and is combined with the

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