Waipatia is an extinct genus of odontocetes from the late Oligocene (Chattian) of New Zealand.
Taxonomy The type species, Waipatia maerewhenua is known from a single skull found near 45° South in Otago. The second species, W. hectori, was originally named Microcetus hectori in 1935, but later recognized as distinct from Microcetus.Benham, W. B. (1935). "The teeth of an extinct whale, Microcetus hectori n. sp." Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 65:239-243.Rothausen, K. (1961). "Ueber Microcetus, einen kleinen Squalodontiden aus dem Oberoligozaen". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 112(1):106-116. "Uncamentodon" was informally coined for M. hectori in a table by Rothausen in a 1970 paper, but the lack of a diagnosis or description made it a nomen nudum. Finally in 2015, M. hectori was recognized as a second species of Waipatia based on preparation of additional material included in the holotype.Tanaka, Y. and R. E. Fordyce (2015). "Historically significant late Oligocene dolphin Microcetus hectori Benham 1935: a new species of Waipatia (Platanistoidea)". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
References
Further reading Berta, Annalisa; James L. Sumich, and Kit M. Kovacs. Marine Mammals: Evolutionary Biology Ellis, Richard. Aquagenesis: The Origin and Evolution of Life in the Sea Hoelzel, A. Rus. Marine Mammal Biology: An Evolutionary Approach Rich, Pat Vickers; Thomas Hewitt Rich, Francesco Coffa, and Steven Morton. Wildlife of Gondwana: Dinosaurs and Other Vertebrates from the Ancient Supercontinent (Life of the Past)