Overview
- Researchers at Museums Victoria formally described the species in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
- Local resident Ross Dullard found the fossil on Victoria’s Surf Coast in 2019 and donated it to the museum, which named the species in his honor.
- The juvenile specimen measured a little over two meters and shows predator traits including tennis‑ball‑sized forward‑facing eyes, a short snout, and sharp cutting teeth.
- Exceptionally preserved teeth and inner‑ear structures enabled advanced imaging that reconstructs how the animal sensed prey, fed, and swam.
- The find is the third mammalodontid recorded from Victoria and only the fourth worldwide, offering fresh insight into early stages of baleen whale evolution and the region’s unusual diversity.