Also known as I40/f25

Where: North Otago, New Zealand (44.8° S, 170.5° E: paleocoordinates 51.0° S, 175.0° W)

• coordinate stated in text

When: Maerewhenua Member (Otekaike Limestone Formation), Duntroonian (27.3 - 25.2 Ma)

• Matrix from NMNZ Ma 653 produced abund- ant planktic foraminifera including specimens of Turborotalia euapertura. No specimens were found of the next younger zonal species Globo- quadrina dehiscens, Globoturborotalita woodi or Globoturborotalita connecta (all of which would indicate Waitakian stage or younger), supporting placement in the Globigerina euapertura foraminif- eral zone of Jenkins (1965), in the upper Whain- garoan–Duntroonian Stages. (Generic names follow Aze et al. 2011). In addition, the matrix contains the ostracod species, Cytheralison amiesi, which has a Duntroonian range (Ayress 1993). The presence of very minor very fine glaucony grains is consistent with an origin from the middle part of the Maere- whenua Member, high in the Duntroonian Stage. The combination of lithology, planktic foraminifera and ostracoda suggests that M. hectori is from the uppermost Duntroonian Stage, around 25.2 Ma (Raine et al. 2012).

Environment/lithology: glauconitic limestone

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: original phosphate

Primary reference: W. B. Benham. 1935. The teeth of an extinct whale, Microcetus hectori n. sp. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand 65:239-243 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 45658: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Mark Uhen on 21.11.2004

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)