Project 2238: F. G. Marx, C. Tsai, R. E. Fordyce. 2015. A new Early Oligocene toothed ‘baleen’ whale (Mysticeti: Aetiocetidae) from western North America: one of the oldest and the smallest. Royal Society Open Science. 2 (12):150476.
Abstract
Archaic toothed mysticetes represent the evolutionary transition from raptorial to bulk filter feeding in baleen whales. Aetiocetids, in particular, preserve an intermediate morphological stage in which teeth functioned alongside a precursor of baleen, the hallmark of all modern mysticetes. To date, however, aetiocetids are almost exclusively Late Oligocene and coeval with both other toothed mysticetes and fully fledged filter feeders. By contrast, reports of cetaceans from the Early Oligocene remain rare, leaving the origins of aetiocetids, and thus of baleen, largely in the dark. Here, we report a new aetiocetid, Fucaia buelli, from the earliest Oligocene (ca 33–31 Ma) of western North America. The new material narrows the temporal gap between aetiocetids and the oldest known mysticete, Llanocetus (ca 34 Ma). The specimen preserves abundant morphological detail relating to the phylogenetically informative ear bones (otherwise poorly documented in this family), the hyoid apparatus and much of the (heterodont) dentition. Fucaia comprises some of the smallest known mysticetes, comparable in size with the smallest odontocetes. Based on their phylogenetic relationships and dental and mandibular morphology, including tooth wear patterns, we propose that aetiocetids were suction-assisted raptorial feeders and interpret this strategy as a crucial, intermediary step, enabling the transition from raptorial to filter feeding. Following this line of argument, a combination of raptorial and suction feeding would have been ancestral to all toothed mysticetes, and possibly even baleen whales as a whole.Read the article »
Article DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150476
Project DOI: 10.7934/P2238, http://dx.doi.org/10.7934/P2238
This project contains | Matrices |
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Download Project SDD File | Total scored cells: 272 Total media associated with cells: 172 Total labels associated with cell media: 186 |
Characters | |
Total characters: 272 Total characters with associated media: 0 Total characters with media with labels: 0 Total character states: 635 Total character states with associated media: 0 Total character states with media with labels:0 Total unordered/ordered characters:247/25 |
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MorphoBank Project 2238
MorphoBank Project 2238
- Creation Date:
14 August 2015 - Publication Date:
02 December 2015 - Project views: 48058
- Matrix downloads: 30
Authors' Institutions
- National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
- University of Otago
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan
Members
member name | taxa | specimens | media | chars | character
| cell scorings (scored, NPA, "-") | cell
| rules | ||||||||
Felix Marx Project Administrator | 1 | 1 | 52 | 272 | 0 | 0 | 272 (149, 120, 3) | 3 | 172 | 186 | 0 |
Taxonomic Overview for Matrix 'M23561' (1 Taxon)
taxon | unscored cells |
scored cells |
no cell support |
NPA cells |
"-" cells | cell images | labels on cell images |
member access |
[1] † Fucaia buelli Last Modified in 09/10/15 | 0 | 149 | 0 | 120 | 3 | 172 | 186 | 1 |
Project views
type | number of views | Individual items viewed (where applicable) |
Total project views | 48058 | |
Project overview | 4015 | |
Matrix views | 2406 | Matrix landing page (2141 views); Fucaia (265 views); |
Documents list | 1689 | |
Media views | 34094 | Media search (4450 views); M390797 (597 views); M390787 (678 views); M390819 (543 views); M390829 (548 views); M390786 (549 views); M390836 (516 views); M390790 (626 views); M390810 (561 views); M390830 (503 views); M390806 (590 views); M390834 (512 views); M390825 (524 views); M390818 (590 views); M390816 (598 views); M390833 (518 views); M390813 (568 views); M390793 (684 views); M390832 (500 views); M390823 (554 views); M390831 (513 views); M390788 (621 views); M390792 (577 views); M390812 (584 views); M390799 (599 views); M390822 (631 views); M390814 (702 views); M390804 (535 views); M390824 (568 views); M390794 (576 views); M390821 (569 views); M390802 (565 views); M390827 (532 views); M390820 (582 views); M390811 (581 views); M390835 (502 views); M395328 (510 views); M390795 (560 views); M390796 (567 views); M390826 (549 views); M390789 (555 views); M390800 (593 views); M390808 (583 views); M390807 (591 views); M390798 (544 views); M390815 (559 views); M390791 (627 views); M390809 (583 views); M390803 (563 views); M390817 (578 views); M390805 (591 views); M390828 (506 views); M390801 (589 views); |
Taxon list | 2284 | |
Specimen list | 2441 | |
Bibliography | 1129 |
Project downloads
type | number of downloads | Individual items downloaded (where applicable) |
Total downloads from project | 350 | |
Document downloads | 9 | Fucaia complete matrix (9 downloads); |
Project downloads | 311 | |
Matrix downloads | 30 | Fucaia (30 downloads); |