Mammalodon

Mammalodon Temporal range: Late Oligocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Infraorder:	Cetacea
Family:	†Mammalodontidae
Genus:	†Mammalodon Pritchard, 1939
Species
M. colliveri Pritchard, 1939 (type) M. hakataramea Fordyce and Marx 2016

Mammalodon is an extinct genus of archaic baleen whale belonging to the family Mammalodontidae.

The type species, M. colliveri, was discovered in 1932 in the Jan Juc Formation on the small Bird Rock island south of the Point Lillias peninsula in Torquay, Victoria in Australia (38°18′S 144°18′E / 38.3°S 144.3°E / -38.3; 144.3, paleocoordinates 52°54′S 142°12′E / 52.9°S 142.2°E / -52.9; 142.2). The second species, M. hakataramea, was discovered in the Kokoamu Greensand of New Zealand.

Mammalodon, with a length of 3 m (9.8 ft), was smaller and more basal than modern baleen whales.

Mammalodon is a mix of archaeocete plesiomorphies (retained primitive traits) and mysticete synapomorphies (traits shared with more derived taxa), such as a short rostrum, reduced premaxillae, and orbits directed anterodorsally — defining features of mysticete.