{{short description|Genus of mammals}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = late early Eocene (Lutetian), {{Fossil range|48.6|40.4}} | image = Indocetus IITR-SB 2986.jpg | image_caption = Lower jaw of ''Indocetus'' | taxon = Indocetus | authority = Sahni & Mishra, 1975 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision_ref = <ref>{{Paleodb|taxon|36736|Indocetus}}. Retrieved 27 July 2013.</ref> | subdivision = * '''''I. ramani'''''<br /><small>Sahni & Mishra, 1975</small> }}
'''''Indocetus''''' is a protocetid early whale known from the late early Eocene (Lutetian, {{Mya|48.6|40.4}}) Harudi Formation ({{Coord|23.5|68.7|display=inline}}, paleocoordinates {{Coord|5.9|61.7|display=inline}})<ref>{{Paleodb|collection|45590|Harudi (Eocene of India)}}. Retrieved 27 July 2013.</ref> in Kutch, India.
The holotype of {{Harvnb|Sahni|Mishra|1975}} is a partial skull in two pieces with the frontal shield and the right occiput and auditory bulla preserved.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gingerich|Raza|Arif|Anwar|1993|pp=396, 410}}</ref>
{{Harvnb|Gingerich|Raza|Arif|Anwar|1993}} described postcranial remains from the Sulaiman Range, Punjab, Pakistan, and attributed them to ''Indocetus''. {{Harvnb|Gingerich|Arif|Clyde|1995}}, however, withdrew this assignment and instead attributed this postcranial material to ''Remingtonocetus'' because of similarities to the then newly discovered remingtonocetid ''Dalanistes'', including a longer neck and fused sacral vertebral elements.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gingerich|Arif|Clyde|1995|p=328}}</ref> This leaves ''Indocetus'' without postcranial remains, but undescribed material (as of 1998) from Kutch most likely include some that can be attributed to ''Indocetus''. Furthermore, ''Rodhocetus'', also from Sulaiman, is very similar to ''Indocetus'' and it is possible that these genera are synonyms.<ref name="BajThe-1998-223">{{Harvnb|Bajpai|Thewissen|1998|pp=223–5}}</ref>
''Indocetus'' is known from a partial skull, two endocasts, a right tympanic, and a right maxilla; all from the Harudi Formation. ''Indocetus'' has prominent protocones on the molars, distinguishing it from ''Protocetus'', ''Eocetus'', ''Babiacetus'', and ''Georgiacetus''. P<sup>1</sup> is single-rooted like ''Rodhocetus''. The tympanic bulla is more narrow than in ''Protocetus'' and ''Georgiacetus''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Williams|1998|p=12}}</ref>
The endocasts included dental material, including alveoli and the bases of cheek teeth but not the crowns. P<sup>3–4</sup> are three-rooted and probably had protocones. The molars are smaller than the premolars and decrease from M<sup>1</sup> to M<sup>3</sup>. M<sup>1</sup> and M<sup>2</sup> have large protocone lobs.<ref name="BajThe-1998-223" />
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== {{Refbegin}} * {{Cite book | last1 = Bajpai | first1 = S. | author2-link = Hans Thewissen | last2 = Thewissen| first2 = J. G. M. | chapter = Middle Eocene Cetaceans from the Harudi and Subathu Formations of India | pages = 213–233 | editor-last = Thewissen | editor-first = J. G. M. | title = The Emergence of Whales: Evolutionary Patterns in the Origin of Cetacea | series = Advances in vertebrate paleobiology | year = 1998 | location = New York | publisher = Plenum Press | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zgWIL6ELoJoC&pg=PA223 | access-date = 27 July 2013 | isbn = 9780306458538 | oclc = 300450327 }}<!-- {{Harvnb|Bajpai|Thewissen|1998}} --> * {{Cite journal | last1 = Gingerich | first1 = P. D. | author-link = Philip D. Gingerich | last2 =Raza | first2 = S. Mahmood | last3 = Arif | first3 = Muhammad | last4 = Anwar | first4 = Muhammad |author5=Zhou, Xiaoyuan | title = Partial skeletons of ''Indocetus ramani'' (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the lower middle Eocene Domanda Shale in the Sulaiman Range of Punjab (Pakistan) | year = 1993 | journal = Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, the University of Michigan | volume = 28 | issue = 16 | pages = 393–416 | url = http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/48632/ID498.pdf | access-date = 27 July 2013 }}<!-- {{Harvnb|Gingerich|Raza|Arif|Anwar|1993}} --> * {{Cite journal | last1 = Gingerich | first1 = P. D. | last2 = Arif | first2 = Muhammad | last3 = Clyde | first3 = William C. | title = New Archaeocetes (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the middle Eocene Domanda Formation of the Sulaiman Range, Punjab (Pakistan) | year = 1995 | journal = Contributions from Museum of Paleontology, the University of Michigan | volume = 29 | issue = 11 | pages = 291–330 | hdl = 2027.42/48650 | oclc = 34123868 }}<!-- {{Harvnb|Gingerich|Arif|Clyde|1995}} --> * {{Cite journal | last1 = Sahni | first1 = Ashok | last2 = Mishra | first2 = Vijay Prakash | title = Lower Tertiary vertebrates from western India | year = 1975 | journal = Monograph of the Paleontological Society of India | volume = 3 | pages = 1–48 | oclc = 3566369 | asin = B0007AL8UE }}<!-- {{Harvnb|Sahni|Mishra|1975}} --> * {{Cite book | last = Williams | first = Ellen | chapter = Synopsis of the Earliest Cetaceans: Pakicetidae, Ambulocetidae, Remingtonocetidae, and Protocetidae | pages = 2–15 | title = The Emergence of Whales: Evolutionary Patterns in the Origin of Cetacea | series = Advances in Vertebrate Paleobiology | editor-last = Thewissen| editor-first = J.G.M. | year = 1998 | publisher = Springer | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zgWIL6ELoJoC&pg=PA12 | isbn = 9780306458538 | oclc = 300450327 }}<!-- {{Harvnb|Williams|1998}} --> {{Refend}}
{{Archaeoceti}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q11712114}}
Category:Protocetidae Category:Fossil taxa described in 1975 Category:Monotypic prehistoric cetacean genera Category:Extinct mammals of Asia