Basiloterus

Basiloterus is an extinct genus of late-Eocene archaeocete whale from the Drazinda Formation in southwestern Punjab, Pakistan and possibly also the Barton Group (originally Barton Beds) of England. Known from two isolated lumbar vertebrae, the elongated nature of these elements has been taken as possible evidence that Basiloterus was a close relative of the better-known Basilosaurus. This was also the reasoning behind its name, which roughly translates to "another king". However, publications since then not only lead to some major changes of the internal relationships within Basilosauridae but have also called into question how diagnostic elongated vertebrae are for members of this group, as other early whales have developed similar anatomy independently. Though the identity of Basiloterus as a basilosaurid is generally maintained, its exact position within more recent interpretations of the family is unclear.

==History and naming== The fossil remains of Basiloterus were discovered in 1996 in the green shales that compose the middle parts of the Drazinda Formation in Pakistan. The genus was described in 1997 by Gingerich et al. alongside the species Basilosaurus drazindai on the basis of two lumbar vertebrae thought to represent a single individual. Gingerich and colleagues tentatively refer a vertebral centrum from the Barton Group of England to this genus as well on the basis of its age, size and general morphology.