Orcinus meyeri

Orcinus meyeri is an extinct species placed in Orcinus, the killer whale genus, from Early Miocene deposits near Stockach in the Molasse basin of southern Germany. It is known only from two jaw fragments and 18 isolated teeth. Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer first described the material in 1859 as the dolphin Delphinus acutidens, and Johann Friedrich von Brandt gave it the species name meyeri in 1873 when he placed it with the killer whale. The largest jaw fragment is about 26 centimetres long, and the teeth stand 5 to 6 centimetres tall with two vertical grooves running down from the tip, smaller than those of the living orca. The animal probably had about 48 conical teeth. Its validity is disputed, and it may be the same animal as the early sperm whale Physeterula dubusi.