Waipatia is an extinct genus of dolphin 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. "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.
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)