Palæont. [mod.L. (Owen, 1839), f. Gr. ζεύγλη strap or loop of a yoke + ὀδούς, ὀδοντ- tooth.] A genus of extinct cetaceans of a primitive type, whose fossil remains are found in the Eocene. Hence Zeuglodont, sb. a cetacean of this genus; a. belonging to this genus; Zeuglodontoid [-OID], a. having the characters of this genus, or belonging to the family Zeuglodontidæ; sb. a cetacean of this family.
1839. Owen, in Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond., Ser. II. VI. 75. The microscopic characters of the texture of the teeth of the Zeuglodon are strictly of a mammiferous character.
1857. Agassiz, Contrib. Nat. Hist. U.S., I. 116. The Zeuglodonts [are] embryonic Sirenidæ.
1883. Flower, in Encycl. Brit., XV. 393/2. The earliest Cetaceans of whose organization we have anything like complete evidence are the Zeuglodons of the Eocene period.
1885. J. Phillips’ Man. Geol., II. 650. Whales of the Zeuglodont family.
1892. Athenæum, 12 Nov., 667/3. Zeuglodont and other cetacean remains from the tertiaries of the Caucasus.
