Kentriodon is an extinct genus of toothed whale related to modern-day dolphins. Fossils have been found in North America, Europe and Japan. Several species have been described.
Description
Kentriodon was the most diverse of all the kentriodontids, which are represented by seventeen described genera. These were small to medium-sized odontocetes with largely symmetrical skulls, and thought likely to include ancestors of some modern species. Kentriodon is also the oldest described kentriodontid genus, reported from the Late Oligocene to the Middle Miocene.
Kentriodontines ate small fish and other nectonic organisms; they are thought to have been active echolocators, and might have formed pods. The diversity, morphology and distribution of fossils appear parallel to some modern species.
Species
Kentriodon pernix Kellogg, 1927 (type) Kentriodon fuchsii (Brandt, 1873) Kentriodon hobetsu Ichishima, 1995 Kentriodon obscurus (Kellogg, 1931) Kentriodon schneideri Whitmore and Kaltenbach, 2008 Kentriodon diusinus Salinas-Márquez, Barnes, Flores-Trujillo, Aranda-Manteca, 2014 Kentriodon hoepfneri Kazár & Hampe, 2014 Kentriodon nakajimai Kimura & Hasegawa, 2019 Kentriodon sugawarai Guo & Kohno, 2021