Geobulletin alpha

Source info:

Author:	David Bressan
Date:	2010-06-30 21:51:00
Blog:	History of geology
URL:	http://historyofgeology.blogspot.com/2010/06/palaeontology-and-myth-terrible.html

Summary:

Sometimes palaeontologists when naming a new species got inspired by myths and legends told in ancient and modern stories. A recent example is a new whale from Miocene sediments of the Peruvian desert, described as a new genus and species: Leviathan melvillei, in honour of Moby-Dick author Melville and the mythical monster mentioned in the bible.The 14m long animal, related to the modern sperm whale, has an ulterior particularity worthy of its name, 29 teeth's up to 0,9m long, thought to be used to catch his preys: 7 to 8m long mysticetes , which remains were also found in the sediments. Fig.1. Reconstruction of L. melvillei preying upon a smaller whale, figure from here.References: LAMBERT, O.; BIANUCCI, G.; POST, K.; DE MUIZON, C.; SALA-GISMONDI, R.; URBINA, M. & REUMER, J. (2010): The giant bite of a new raptorial sperm whale from the Miocene epoch of Peru. Nature Vol. 466: 105-108 doi:10.1038/nature09067

Content analysis:

Stratigraphic context:

Recognized stratigraphic terms [n]:	Miocene [1]
Agenames chronostratigraphy [rating]:	Miocene [0.1] Neogene [0.1] Cenozoic [0.1] Phanerozoic [0.1]

Geographic context:

Location	Country	Latitude	Longitude
Peru	PE	-9.18134	-75.0024

Keywords:

9m, author melville, c sala, genus and species, gismondi, honour, leviathan, miocene epoch, moby dick author, mythical monster, myths and legends, nature vol, palaeontology, particularity, peruvian desert, preys, reconstruction, sediments, South America, sperm whale, urbina