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ZYGORHIZA
(zie-go-rye-za)
meaning: "Yoke root"
Zygorhiza
Named By: Genus created by Frederick W. True in 1908. Type species of Z. kochii named by Remington Kellogg in 1936
Time Period: Late Eocene
Location: Especially well known from the Eastern United States, but likely had a broader distribution in life
Size: Body 6 meters long, Skull 1 meter long
Diet: Carnivore
Fossil(s): Multiple specimens
Classification: | Chordata | Mammalia | Cetacea | Archaeoceti | Basilosauridae |
Also known as: | Zeuglodon brachyspondylus minor | Zeuglodon hydrarchos | Zeuglodon hydrarchus | Zygorhiza brachyspondylus | Zygorhiza brachyspondylus minor | Zygorhiza minor |
About

Zygorhiza ("Yoke-Root") is an extinct genus of basilosaurid early whale known from the Late Eocene (Priabonian, 38-34 Ma) of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, United States, and the Bortonian (43-37 Ma on the New Zealand geologic time scale) to the late Eocene of New Zealand (43 to 33.9 million years ago). Specimens reported from Europe are considered Dorudontinae incertae sedis.

Zygorhiza kochii is the state fossil of Mississippi. The mounted specimen in the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson is commonly referred to as "Ziggy".

Read more about Zygorhiza at Wikipedia
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