Llanocetus

Llanocetus
Temporal range:
Skull of Llanocetus denticrenatus at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Suborder: Whippomorpha
Infraorder: Cetacea
Parvorder: Mysticeti
Family: Llanocetidae
Genus: Llanocetus
Mitchell, 1989
Type species
Llanocetus denticrenatus
Mitchell, 1989

Llanocetus ( "Llano's whale" ) is a genus of extinct toothed baleen whales from the Late Eocene of Antarctica. The type species, Llanocetus denticrenatus, reached gigantic proportions, with the juvenile specimen reaching an estimated 8 m (26 ft) in length; a second, unnamed species, known only from three isolated premolar teeth, reached an estimated total body length of up to 12 m (39 ft). Like other contemporary baleen whales of the Eocene, Llanocetus completely lacked baleen in its jaws. It was probably a suction feeder like the modern beaked and pygmy right whales.