A Miocene pygmy right whale fossil from Australia

PeerJ

article

Felix G. Marx¹  Travis Park²  Erich M.G. Fitzgerald³  Alistair R. Evans² 

[1] Directorate of Earth and History of Life, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences;School of Biological Sciences, Monash University;Palaeontology;Department of Life Sciences;National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

关键词: Neobalaeninae;    Cetotheriidae;    Evolution;    Fossil;    Victoria;    Caperea;    Cochlea;    Inner ear;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.5025

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Neobalaenines are an enigmatic group of baleen whales represented today by a single living species: the pygmy right whale, Caperea marginata, found only in the Southern Hemisphere. Molecular divergence estimates date the origin of pygmy right whales to 22–26 Ma, yet so far there are only three confirmed fossil occurrences. Here, we describe an isolated periotic from the latest Miocene of Victoria (Australia). The new fossil shows all the hallmarks of Caperea, making it the second-oldest described neobalaenine, and the oldest record of the genus. Overall, the new specimen resembles C. marginata in its external morphology and details of the cochlea, but is more archaic in it having a hypertrophied suprameatal area and a greater number of cochlear turns. The presence of Caperea in Australian waters during the Late Miocene matches the distribution of the living species, and supports a southern origin for pygmy right whales.

【 授权许可】

CC BY