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Taxonomy
Aureia rerehua was named by Meekin et al. (2024). Its type specimen is OU22553, a skull, and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Haugh's Quarry, which is in a Waitakian marine lime mudstone in the Otekaike Limestone Formation of New Zealand.
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Aureia rerehua Meekin et al. p. 4 figs. Figs. 1-3 |
| 2024 | Aureia rerehua Robinson et al. p. 580 |
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If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.
†Aureia rerehua Meekin et al. 2024
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| S. Meekin et al. 2024 | A. rerehua has features common in other stem odontocetes and some platanistoids; a subcircular fossa in the periotic fossa sensu de Muizon (1987), ventrally deflected anterior processes on the periotics, anterior spines on the tympanic bullae, distinct premaxillary clefts, and well developed antorbital notches (de Muizon 1987; Geisler and Sanders 2003; Geisler et al. 2011, 2012; Murakami et al. 2012a, 2012b; Tanaka and Fordyce 2014; Tanaka and Fordyce 2015b; Gaetán et al. 2018). A. rerehua is most like Otekaikea and Waipatia, with an attenuated rostrum, procumbent incisors, fossa for the articular rim of the periotic, and shallow fossae for the sternomastoid muscle (Moore 1968; de Muizon 1987; Tanaka and Fordyce 2015b, 2014, 2017).
A. rerehua has unique basioccipital crests with posteroventral projections, a rectangu- lar nuchal crest, flat ventral surfaces on the posterior process of the periotic, laterally splayed teeth, and a process on the subtemporal crest. Waipatiid-like odontocetes have developed vertices. The vertex of A. rerehua is less pronounced than W. maerewhenua or Otekaikea, shown in Figure 1C, possessing a flatter face like Papahu taitapu (Fordyce 1994; Aguirre-Fernández and Fordyce 2014; Tanaka and Fordyce 2014, 2015b). The posterior skull is straighter and steeper than that of other waipatiid-like odontocetes, making the lateral profile of the skull triangular. |
Measurements
No measurements are available
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| Source: subo = suborder, o = order | |||||
| Reference: Uhen 2004 | |||||