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Macroraptorial sperm whales occupied the same niche as killer whales (Orcinus orca). Using their large and deeply rooted teeth, wide-opening jaws, and great size, they likely fed on a variety of sea life, including fish, cephalopods, seals, and small whales and dolphins, occupying a niche similar to the modern day killer whale (Orcinus orca).
Livyatan is an extinct genus of macroraptorial sperm whale containing one known species: L. melvillei. The genus name was inspired by the biblical sea monster Leviathan, and the species name by Herman Melville, the author of the famous novel Moby-Dick about a white bull sperm whale. Herman Melville often referred to whales as "Leviathans" in ...
Zygophyseter varolai is an extinct sperm whale that lived during the Tortonian age of the Late Miocene 11.2 to 7.6 million years ago. It is known from a single specimen from the Pietra Leccese Formation in Italy.
Brygmophyseter, known as the biting sperm whale, is an extinct genus of toothed whale in the sperm whale family with one species, B. shigensis. When it was first described in 1994, the species was placed in the genus Scaldicetus based on tooth morphology , but this was later revised in 1995.
Acrophyseter is a genus of extinct sperm whale that lived in the Late Miocene off the coast of what is now Peru. The genus comprises two species: A. deinodon and A. robustus.It is part of a group of macroraptorial sperm whales that all share several features for hunting large prey, such as deeply rooted and thick teeth.
Scaldicetus is an extinct genus of highly predatory macroraptorial sperm whale.Although widely used for a number of extinct physeterids with primitive dental morphology consisting of enameled teeth, Scaldicetus as generally recognized appears to be a wastebasket taxon filled with more-or-less unrelated primitive sperm whales.
A newly discovered ancient species of whale may be one of the largest and heaviest animals on record, a new study has found.
Some balaenopterids perhaps rivaled the blue whale in terms of size, [114] though other studies disagree that any baleen whale grew that large in the Miocene. [115] The true largest macroraptorial sperm whale is none other than the Livyatan, with an estimated length of 44–57 ft (13.5–17.5 m) and an estimated weight of 62.8 short tons (57 ...