Southern Africa, offshore (Miocene to of South Africa)

Where: South Africa (34.4° S, 17.8° E: paleocoordinates 34.7° S, 16.8° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Middle Miocene to Middle Miocene (16.0 - 2.6 Ma)

• "the most probable age for these skulls would be middle to early late Miocene, but we cannot completely exclude older ages. Because more reduced phosphogenic phases occurred later in the Miocene and Pliocene, some specimens might even prove to be younger."

Environment/lithology: marine; phosphorite

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: original phosphate

Primary reference: S. H. Haughton. 1956. Phosphatic-Glauconitic deposits off the west coast of South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 42(4):329-334 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 77208: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Mark Uhen on 31.12.2007

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Gastropoda
 Neogastropoda - Nassariidae
? Fusus sp. Bruguière 1789 snail
 Neogastropoda - Clavatulidae
cf. Pusionella sp. Gray 1847 snail
 Neogastropoda - Conidae
? Conus sp. Linnaeus 1758 cone shell
 Neogastropoda - Turridae
"cf. Pleurotoma sp." = Turris
"cf. Pleurotoma sp." = Turris Röding 1798 turrid
 Sorbeoconcha - Xenophoridae
Xenophora sp. Fischer von Waldheim 1807 carrier shell
 Sorbeoconcha - Naticidae
Natica sp. Scopoli 1777 moon snail
Bivalvia
 Poromyida - Cuspidariidae
Cuspidaria sp. Dall 1886 clam
 Cardiida - Veneridae
Veneridae indet. Rafinesque 1815 venus clam
Scaphopoda
 Dentaliida - Dentaliidae
Dentalium sp. Linnaeus 1758 tusk shell
Chondrichthyes
 Lamniformes - Carchariidae
Carcharias sp. Rafinesque 1810 sand shark
 Lamniformes - Lamnidae
Isurus sp. Rafinesque 1810 mackerel shark
or Lamna sp.
Carcharodon sp. Smith 1838 white shark
Mammalia
 Cetacea - Ziphiidae
? Ziphius sp. Cuvier 1824 beaked whale
Izikoziphius rossi n. gen. n. sp.1 Bianucci et al. 2007 beaked whale
Berardiinae indet.1 Moore 1968 beaked whale
Microberardius africanus n. gen. n. sp.1 Bianucci et al. 2007 beaked whale
cf. Mesoplodon sp. Gervais 1850 beaked whale
M. europaeus, M. bidens, or M. layardii
Africanacetus ceratopsis n. gen. n. sp.1 Bianucci et al. 2007 beaked whale
Xhosacetus hendeysi n. gen. n. sp.1 Bianucci et al. 2007 beaked whale
Nenga meganasalis n. gen. n. sp.1 Bianucci et al. 2007 beaked whale
 Cetacea - Balaenidae
Eubalaena sp.2 Gray 1864 right whale
SAM-PQ-3096