Jan Juc Beach (Oligocene of Australia)

Where: Victoria, Australia (38.4° S, 144.3° E: paleocoordinates 52.9° S, 142.2° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Jan Juc Formation, Chattian (28.1 - 23.0 Ma)

• The Jan Juc Marl is placed mostly into the Chattian by both biostratigraphy and radiometric dating, with a minimum age of 23.9 (based on the overlying Puebla Formation) and a maximum age exceeding 27.2 Ma [138]. However, the exact position of the known material within the Jan Juc Marl is unknown. Several recent cladistic analyses, including the present study, have proposed a close relationship of Janjucetus and Mammalodon [102, 139]. Since the two taxa must have separated prior to the first occurrence of Mammalodon and its relatives during the early Chattian (see discussion of OU 22026 for further details), we here assume an early Chattian (28.1–25.6 Ma) age for Janjucetus, pending the discovery of temporally better constrained specimens. (Marx & Fordyce, 2015)

•

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: offshore; lithology not reported

• strong water mixing, oxygen-poor, bioturbation

Size class: macrofossils

Primary reference: E. M. G. Fitzgerald. 2011. Archaeocete-like jaws in a baleen whale. Biology Letters [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 114718: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Mark Uhen on 23.08.2011

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Mammalia
 Cetacea - Mammalodontidae
Mammalodontidae indet. Mitchell 1989 whale
NMV P252884 252899 48788 254112 218279 252897
Janjucetus hunderi Fitzgerald 2006 whale