Tangaroasaurus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammals}}

{{Speciesbox

|fossil_range = Miocene {{Fossil range|16.0|13.8 }}

|image = Tangaroasaurus tooth.png

|image_caption = A tooth from the type fossil

|taxon =Tangaroasaurus kakanuiensis

|authority = Benham, 1936

|parent_authority = Benham, 1936

|synonyms = * Tangarasaurus
{{Harvnb|Benham|1936}}

}}

Tangaroasaurus is an extinct genus of squalodontid whale from the Miocene of New Zealand. It contains a single species, Tangaroasaurus kakanuiensis. Similar to Basilosaurus and its close relative Squalodon, it was originally thought to be a species of marine reptile.{{cite web |title=Geology society of New Zealand Inc 2003 annual Conference |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/24446960/New-Zealnd-Fossil-Guide |website=Scribd}}{{cite web |title=Tangaroasaurus Benham 1935 (toothed whale) |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=42940 |website=PBDB}} Parts of the Holotype are presumably lost. Its name comes from Tangaroa, the Māori god of the sea, while the suffix -saurus comes from the Latin word for reptile, the group that Tangaroasaurus was originally placed in.

The type fossil was found in a grey clay deposit at All Day Bay and consists of a jaw bearing a few teeth, measuring {{cvt|5|cm|in}} each. The original describer of the type specimen, William Blaxland Benham, described it as a reptile, either a dinosaur such as Megalosaurus or an late surviving ichthyosaur.{{cite journal |last=Benham |first=W. B. |title=A Reptilian Jaw from Kakanui, South Island, New Zealand |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand |date=1936 |volume=65 |pages=232–238 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TPRSNZ1936-65.2.6.19}} The genus was described as an odontocete cetacean in 1979 by R. E. Fordyce.{{cite journal |title=Records of two Paleogene turtles and notes on other Tertiary reptilian remains from New Zealand |journal=New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics |date=1979-12-01 |volume=22 |issue=6 |pages=737–741 |doi=10.1080/00288306.1979.10424180 |last1=Ewan Fordyce |first1=R. }}

The status of the genus as a cetacean remains under discussion.{{cite journal |title=A new Ziphiidae (Cetacea) from the Early Miocene of Washington State (USA) and phylogenetic analysis of the major groups of odontocetes |journal=Bull. Mus. Natn. Hist. Nut., Paris |date=1990 |volume=279-326. |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283969808}}

File:Tangaroasaurus jaw.png

Fossils known from the same geological formation, the All Day Bay formation and Gee Greensand Formation, include an unnamed species of Squalodelphinidae and a species of Prosqualodon.{{cite web |title=All Day Bay (Miocene of New Zealand) |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicCollectionSearch?collection_no=45659 |website=PBDB}}