Mammalodon hakataramea Fordyce and Marx, 2016

Fordyce, R. Ewan & Marx, Felix G., 2016, Mysticetes baring their teeth: a new fossil whale, Mammalodon hakataramea, from the Southwest Pacific, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 74, pp. 107-116 : 109-113

Mammalodon hakataramea Fordyce and Marx sp. nov.

Zoobank LSID. http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

6D960230-3799-4597-BAAD-2537772B99A6

Figs. 2 , 3

Holotype. OU 22026 – dorsal part of braincase, comprising much of the supraoccipital and parts of the parietals and squamosals, preserved with the original dorsal surface down, and the bioeroded ventral surface upwards; left tympanic bulla lacking the posterior process; five teeth with little or no remnants of the crown. All elements were closely associated, with no other fossil cetacean remains nearby.

Figures

Fig. 2. A-G, I, holotype of Mammalodon hakataramea, OU 22026; all material coated with sublimed ammonium chloride and lit from upper left. A-E, individual isolated teeth in labial or lingual view. F, G, I, holotype skull roof of Mammalodon hakataramea. F, I, dorsal view, anterior towards the top; G, oblique dorsolateral view from the left, anterior towards the lower left. H, holotype skull of Mammalodon colliveri Pritchard, NMV P199986, dorsal view, not coated with sublimed ammonium chloride. H and I are shown at the same scale to compare the differences in size and profile between the two Mammalodon species. The two dashed lines show the position of the apex of the nuchal crest and the dorsal lip of the foramen magnum in M. colliveri; M. hakataramea is aligned with the upper line.

Fig. 3. A-F, L, M, holotype left tympanic bulla of Mammalodon hakataramea, OU 22026; all views show the bulla coated with sublimed ammonium chloride and lit from upper left. A, dorsal. B, ventral. C, posterior. D, anterior. E, lateral. F, medial. G-K, holotype right tympanic bulla of Mammalodon colliveri Pritchard, NMV P199986, with views mirrored for ease of comparison with M. hakataramea; bulla is coated with sublimed ammonium chloride and mirrored views show lighting from upper right. G, dorsal. H, ventral. I, medial. J, lateral. K, posterior. L, M, enlarged views of left tympanic bulla of Mammalodon hakataramea to show anterior pedicle. L, slightly dorsomedial posterior view. M, slightly posterior dorsomedial view.

Fig. 1, Locality map and stratigraphy of the Sisters Creek-Homestead Creek area of Hakataramea Valley. The stratigraphic column, right, is modified from that of Tsai and Fordyce (2015) for “Haughs’ Quarry”, which provides the nearest detailed column to Sisters Creek.Mammalodon hakataramea came from about the horizon identified as the diffuse shellbed with Lentipecten hochstetteri and brachiopods.