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Priabonian Basilosaurus isis (Cetacea) from the Wadi Esh-Shallala Formation: first marine mammal from the Eocene of Jordan

2000; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 20; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0201

1937-2809

Iyad S. Zalmout, Hakam Mustafa, Philip D. Gingerich,

Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology

FIGURE 1. Map of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan showing location of Qa’ Faydat ad Dahikiya in the Eastern Desert of Jordan (on border with Saudi Arabia), with a detailed geological map of Qa’ Faydat ad Dahikiya (modified from Rabba, 1998) and the Basilosaurus locality within this. In 1998 paleontologists at Yarmouk University (Irbid) initiated a field survey and search for fossil vertebrates in the Eastern Desert of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. One promising site, in the Wadi EshShallala Formation of Qa’ Faydat ad Dahikiya, yielded some 20 identifiable elasmobranch teeth of Priabonian age (Mustafa and Zalmout, 1999) and a glauconitic mass containing bone. When cleaned, the bone was recognized as a caudal vertebra of a large marine mammal. Comparison with archaeocete specimens from the late Eocene of Egypt shows that it is a 14th caudal vertebra of Basilosaurus isis. The specimen is important in corroborating the Priabonian age of the upper Wadi Esh-Shallala Formation, it is the first record of marine mammals in the Eocene of Jordan, and it offers promise for discovery of additional specimens in the future. Institutional Abbreviations—YUPC, paleontological collections of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Yarmouk University, Irbid; UM, Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; USNM, U.S. National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington.