Qasr el Sagha Formation

The Qasr el Sagha Formation is a palaeontological formation located in Egypt^[1] (29°42′N 30°48′E / 29.7°N 30.8°E, paleocoordinates 25°00′N 26°42′E / 25.0°N 26.7°E). It dates to the Late Eocene (middle Priabonian, 37.2 to 33.9 million years ago).^[2]

Fossils of the early whale genus Saghacetus ("Sagha whale", originally named "Zeuglodon osiris") were first collected at Qasr al Sagha by German explorer Georg August Schweinfurth in January 1886 (a well-preserved dentary). Saghacetus is common in the middle of Qasr el Sagha, but there are few other specimens of archaeocetes whales; the only exception being the enigmatic "Prozeuglodon stromeri", named in 1828 based on specimens from 1904, but never adequately described before their destruction during the bombing of Munich in WW2.^[3]

See also

• List of fossil sites

Notes

1. Vickers-Rich & Rich 1993
2. Tamariskenbucht (Eocene of Egypt) in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved July 2013.
3. Gingerich 2007, pp. 363–4

References

• Gingerich, Philip D (2007). "Stromerius nidensis, new archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Upper Eocene Qasr El-Sagha Formation, Fayum, Egypt" (PDF). Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology 31 (13): 363–78. OCLC 214233870.
• Vickers-Rich, Patricia; Rich, Thomas Hewitt V. (1993). Wildlife of Gondwana. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-7301-0315-3.