Late Eocene archaeocete whale (Archaeoceti: Dorudontinae) from Waihao, South Canterbury, New Zealand

Abstract

Two incomplete whale teeth from Late Eocene greensands at Waihao appear to represent a species related closely to Late Eocene Northern Hemisphere species of Dorudon. The teeth provide the best evidence yet of archaeocetes in New Zealand. The occurrence suggests that Cetacea occupied Southwest Pacific waters before the Oligocene.

Keywords:

• Cetacea
• Dorudontinae
• Dorudon
• fossil
• Eocene
• archaeocetes
• systematics
• stratigraphy
• zoogeography