# New fossil pygmy sperm whale Scaphokogia huachafo from Peru has the most asymmetric skull among cetaceans

- Published: 2026-11-13 16:35 UTC
- Section: Life & Health › Biology & biochemistry
- Tags: Scaphokogia huachafo, pygmy sperm whale fossil, Kogiidae, Pisco Formation, Late Miocene, cranial asymmetry in cetaceans, benthic foraging, suction feeding, Communications Biology, fossil whale skull
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-c117121db4b04107761ad34e_new_fossil_pygmy/

**Researchers described Scaphokogia huachafo, a Late Miocene pygmy sperm whale from the Pisco Formation, based on a skull with extreme facial asymmetry and a heavy downward-angled snout.**

![New fossil pygmy sperm whale Scaphokogia huachafo from Peru has the most asymmetric skull among cetaceans](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/5c5d7f95f5401399.jpg)
*James St. John, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0*

Paleontologist Aldo Benites-Palomino of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and colleagues described a new pygmy sperm whale (Kogiidae), Scaphokogia huachafo. According to the paper in Communications Biology, the animal comes from the Late Miocene Pisco Formation in Peru and lived about six million years ago [1]. The animal was about 2.7 meters long [1].

The skull was found in the early 1990s and lay unnoticed in the collections of the Museum of Natural History in Lima. An early attempt to classify it failed, and the specimen was overlooked until 2015, when Benites-Palomino came across it while working on his Bachelor's thesis. He rejected the idea that tectonic forces had deformed the bone. Further work was done at the University of Zurich, where he received his doctorate in 2025.

## Skull asymmetry and snout structure

The authors report extreme craniofacial asymmetry that extends beyond the external bony nares to the surrounding cranial structures [1]. Geometric morphometric and symmetry analyses indicate that the genus Scaphokogia shows the most extreme facial asymmetry documented among cetaceans, and potentially among mammals [1]. In modern sperm whales, a lesser degree of asymmetry makes room for the organ that produces loud clicks used for biosonar.

The rostrum is robust, tubular and oriented ventrally. It consists of dense pachyostotic bone and is reinforced by ossified cartilage [1]. According to the authors, this mass shifted the center of gravity forward. The snout is angled 31 degrees downward relative to the rest of the skull, and the head could tilt a further 55 degrees.

## Benthic feeding

Reconstruction of the atlanto-occipital joint in closely related species of the genus suggests enhanced ventral neck flexibility, consistent with feeding on the seabed [1]. The authors conclude that S. huachafo occupied ecological niches that no longer exist, and that this points to shifts toward benthic foraging in the Late Miocene [1].

Benites-Palomino suggests the animal foraged along the seabed in shallow coastal waters, presumably taking octopuses and squid by suction. The authors describe the skull morphology as a likely unique adaptation with no direct modern analogues [1].

## Sources

1. [Communications Biology](https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-11074-2)
2. [EurekAlert](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1151630)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-c117121db4b04107761ad34e_new_fossil_pygmy/