Where: South Canterbury, New Zealand (44.8° S, 170.9° E: paleocoordinates 52.3° S, 167.3° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: upper P12 to P13 zone, Lower Greensand Member (Waihao Greensand Formation), Bortonian (42.6 - 39.1 Ma)

• At least OU22242, and likely all of the specimens, originate from a horizon located immediately below a phosphatised, concretionary layer marking the top of the Lower Greensand Member [14]. The age of this deposit is constrained by the occurrence of the benthic foraminiferan Bulimica bortonica in roughly the same horizon as the fossil itself [14], and that of Rectuvigerina prisca ca. 1.8 m below the phosphatised band [15]. In a relatively nearby section located at Hampden, North Otago, the overlap of these two species is extremely short, with B. bortonica disappearing at or just before the upper boundary of the local Bortonian stage (38.4 Ma [2]), whereas R. prisca first appears during the uppermost Bortonian (ca. 39.5 Ma) [16]. Together, these occurrences constrain the age of Zygorhiza sp. to ca. 39.5–38.4 Ma (late Bartonian). (Marx & Fordyce, 2015).

• member-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: marine; unlithified, glauconitic, argillaceous sandstone

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: original phosphate

Collection methods: surface (float),

Primary reference: R. Kohler and R. E. Fordyce. 1997. An archaeocete whale (Cetacea: Archaeoceti) from the Eocene Waiho Greensand, New Zealand. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17(3):574-583 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 32900: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Mark Uhen on 17.07.2003

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)