messapicetiformes – Nix Illustration

Beneziphius

Beneziphius cetariensis was an early beaked whale that lived off the coast of what is now the northwest Iberian peninsula.

It’s only known from a partial skull that was fished up by bottom trawling nets from the seafloor, so its exact age isn’t known, but based on related species it’s estimated to date to somewhere between the mid-Miocene and early Pliocene, around 13-5 million years ago.

About 4m long (~13′), it had a fairly short narrow snout and was functionally toothless, with evidence of only small vestigial teeth that would have been fully embedded in its gums. Males of this species probably had a pair of tusk-like “battle teeth” at the tip of their lower jaw, similar to some other beaked whales, which would have been used in fights against each other.

The back of Beneziphius’ skull was also proportionally tall, and although not as elaborate as some other fossil species this may still have functioned like “internal antlers” — display structures visible only via echolocation.

Flandriacetus

Flandriacetus gijseni was an early beaked whale that lived during the late Miocene, about 8 million years ago, in nearshore marine waters covering what is now the Netherlands.

Around 4m long (~13′), it had a long snout lined with small sharp teeth – unlike modern beaked whales which are mostly toothless – and much like its close relative Messapicetus it probably led a more dolphin-like lifestyle feeding on small fish near the surface.

It’s currently the youngest known example of a long-snouted stem beaked whale, a holdover from a time when these cetaceans were much more ecologically diverse than they are today.

Globicetus

Globicetus hiberus, a 5m long (16′4″) beaked whale from the Atlantic coast of Portugal and Spain. Its fossils can’t be easily dated since they were fished up from the seafloor, but it was probably around Early-to-Mid Miocene in age (~20-14 mya).

Its skull sported an odd bony sphere at the base of its snout, just in front of the melon, which appears to have been larger and more prominent in males than in females. Many modern beaked whales also have sexually dimorphic crests, ridges, and domes in their skulls, and these structures may function as sort of “internal antlers” – a display structure the whales can “see” via echolocation that signals their size, strength, and health to each other.