Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Plural form of
protocetid .
Etymologies
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Examples
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Numerous discoveries of fossil whales similar to Protocetus and Eocetus have since shown that protocetids and their relatives experimented with a variety of lifestyles in and adjacent to the marine environment.
Archive 2006-02-01 Darren Naish 2006
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Finally, there are the middle and late Eocene protocetids.
Archive 2006-02-01 Darren Naish 2006
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The best known protocetids are 2 to 3-meter long primitive forms such as
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The frontal shield is expanded with broad supraorbital processes, but it is again narrower than that of later protocetids.
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Maiacetus is similar to that preserved in the other protocetids
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Maiacetus to support its weight on land and corroborates previous ideas that protocetids were amphibious.
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Moderate sexual dimorphism indicates limited male-male competition during breeding, which in turn suggests little aggregation of food or shelter in the environment inhabited by protocetids.
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The frontal shield is not as broad relative to the rest of the skull as it is in later protocetids.
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This is consistent with skeletal morphology enabling Maiacetus to support its weight on land and corroborates previous ideas that protocetids were amphibious.
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Moderate sexual dimorphism indicates limited male-male competition during breeding, which in turn suggests little aggregation of food or shelter in the environment inhabited by protocetids.
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