Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 134, February 2016, pp. 1-44. | Page 21

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osiris, Z. zitteli, Z. elliotsmithii, and Z. sensitivius) in the genus Dorudon. Gingerich
(1992) synonymized these four species and grouped them as Saghacetus Osiris
(Wikipedia).
The current taxonomic status of Dorudon is based on Uhen’s (2004) revision
of Dorudon and detailed description of D. atrox. Before this, the taxonomy of
Dorudon was in disarray and based on a limited set of specimens (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.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/15479060765/
Dorudon atrox is known from Egypt, D. serratus from Georgia and South Carolina
in the United States. The type species D. serratus was, and still is, based solely on
two partial maxillae with a few teeth, cranial fragments, and a dozen vertebrae
with some additional material, collected but not described by Gibbes, and
referred to the type species. Before Uhen (2004), Dorudon atrox was based solely
on Andrews’s holotype skull, lower jaw, and the vertebrae he referred to it, but is
now the best known archaeocete species (Wikipedia).
The two species of Dorudon differ from other members of Dorudontinae mainly
in size: they are considerably larger than Saghacetus and slightly larger than
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 134 – February 2016