Orycteocetus is an extinct genus of sperm whale from the Miocene of the northern Atlantic Ocean.

Classification

Orycterocetus is a member of Physeteroidea closely related to crown-group sperm whales. The type species, O. quadratidens, was first named by Joseph Leidy on the basis of two teeth, two partial mandibular rami, and a rib from Neogene deposits of Virginia. Two more species were subsequently described, O. cornutidens Leidy 1856 and O. crocodilinus Cope, 1868, the latter from the middle Miocene Calvert Formation.

Sources