page_title: Brygmophyseter
section_title: Phylogeny
hierarchical_section_title: Brygmophyseter / Taxonomy / Phylogeny
caption_attribution_description: English: カミツキマッコウは1983年に長野県松本市で発見されたマッコウクジラの仲間。ぎざぎざの歯が噛みついていた印。 こうして見るとバシロサウルスの長さが凄い。
context_page_description: Brygmophyseter, known as the biting sperm whale, is an extinct genus of toothed whale in the sperm whale family with one species, B. shigensis. When it was first described in 1994, the species was placed in the genus Scaldicetus based on tooth morphology, but this was later revised in 1995. In 2006, it was classified into the genus Naganocetus, which is considered to be a junior synonym. The only known specimen, a nearly complete skeleton, was dated to be around 14–15 million years old. Brygmophyseter is thought to have been 7 meters long, and it probably had 11 or 12 teeth in the upper and lower jaws. Brygmophyseter is part of a group of macroraptorial sperm whales which tended to be apex predators using their large teeth to catch struggling prey such as whales. It had a spermaceti organ which was probably used for biosonar like in the modern sperm whale. The whale has made an appearance on The History Channel's TV series Jurassic Fight Club.
context_section_description: Brygmophyseter is a member of a fossil stem group of hyper-predatory macroraptorial sperm whales from the Miocene (often shortened to "raptorial") The other members are Acrophyseter, Livyatan, and Zygophyseter, and these four whales have in common enamel-coated teeth in both the upper and lower jaws which were used in hunting large prey. These teeth are thought to have evolved in either a basilosaurid-like common ancestor, or multiple times independently in the group. Brygmophyseter is the oldest raptorial. It has been proposed that these raptorials be placed into the extinct paraphyletic (hence, probably invalid) subfamily Hoplocetinae, alongside Scaldicetus, Diaphorocetus, Idiorophus, and Hoplocetus.
  The species was first described in 1994 by paleontologists Kiyoharu Hirota and Lawrence Barnes. Observing the teeth which were present in both jaws and coated in enamel, they had placed it into the genus Scaldicetus which was described in 1867 as having similar characteristics. However, a 1995 study stated that since Scaldicetus is described only from tooth remains and is likely a wastebasket taxon, new species should not be assigned to the genus. Therefore, the study authored by paleontologists Kimura Toshiyuki, Hasegawa Yoshikazu, and Barnes Lawrence placed it into the newly erected genus Brygmophyseter. A 2006 study by geologists Giovanni Bianucci and Walter Landini placed the whale into the genus Naganocetus which they had created, and concluded that it was most closely related to Zygophyseter, which they had for the first time described in the same study. This was justified by their similar body sizes, the basin containing the spermaceti organ (the supracranial basin) not extending forward (causing a convex snout), and the presence of long temporal fossae on the sides of the skull. However, since Brygmophyseter was published first, Naganocetus is considered to be a junior synonym.
caption: Reconstructed skeleton in side view
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