Qasr el Sagha Formation
The Qasr el Sagha Formationis a geological formation located in Egypt The formation is part of the Wadi El Hitan World Heritage Site. The Qasr el Sagha Formation overlies the Birket Qarun Formation and is overlain by the Gebel Qatrani Formation. The sandstones and shales of the formation were deposited in a deltaic to shallow marine environment. It dates to the Late Eocene.Paleontological significance
Fossils of the early whale genus Saghacetus were first collected at Qasr al Sagha by German explorer Georg August Schweinfurth in January 1886.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 World War II.Fossil content
Other fossils found in the formation include:
- Mammals
- * Moeritherium lyonsi
- * Apterodon sp.
- Reptiles
- * Andrewsemys libyca
- Fish
- * Misrichthys stromeri
- * Carcharhinus aff. frequens
- * Odontorhytis aff. pappenheimi
- * ?Jacquhermania attiai
- * Carcharhinus sp.
- * Coupatezia sp.
- * Ouledia sp.
- * Pastinachus sp.
- * Rhinobatos sp.
- * Scyliorhinus sp.
- * ?Sphyrna sp.
- * Pristidae indet.
- * "Cretolamna" twiggsensis
