Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 134, February 2016, pp. 1-44. | Page 19

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Dorudon :
Dorudon ("Spear-Tooth") is a genus of extinct basilosaurid ancient whales that
lived alongside Basilosaurus 40.4 to 33.9 million years ago, in the Eocene. They
were about 5 m (16 feet) long and fed on small fish and mollusks. Dorudon lived
in warm seas around the world. Fossils have been found along the former
shorelines of the Tethys Sea in present-day Egypt and Pakistan, as well as in the
United States, New Zealand, and Western Sahara (Wikipedia).

Prof. Dr. Sc. Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher Khalaf-von Jaffa studying a Dorudon atrox
Whale Fossil at Wadi El-Hitan (Whales Valley), Al-Fayyum, Al-Sahraa Al-Gharbiah
(Western Desert), Egypt. Photo: Ola Mostafa Khalaf. 11.07.2012.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/7568459556/

Taxonomic History
Gibbes (1845) described Dorudon serratus based on a fragmentary maxilla and a
few teeth found in South Carolina. He concluded that the teeth must have
belonged to a mammal since they were two-rooted, that they must have been
teeth from a juvenile since they were hollow, and also noted their similarity to
the teeth then described for Zeuglodon (=Basilosaurus). When exploring the type
locality, Gibbes discovered a lower jaw and twelve caudal vertebrae, which he
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 134 – February 2016