A Miocene pygmy right whale fossil from Australia
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 conf...
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crpeerj:10.7717/peerj.5025 2024-06-02T08:04:02+00:00 A Miocene pygmy right whale fossil from Australia Marx, Felix G. Park, Travis Fitzgerald, Erich M.G. Evans, Alistair R. Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral fellowship Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5025 https://peerj.com/articles/5025.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/5025.xml https://peerj.com/articles/5025.html en eng PeerJ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PeerJ volume 6, page e5025 ISSN 2167-8359 journal-article 2018 crpeerj https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5025 2024-05-07T14:13:34Z 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whales PeerJ Publishing PeerJ 6 e5025 |
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English |
description |
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. |
author2 |
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral fellowship Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Marx, Felix G. Park, Travis Fitzgerald, Erich M.G. Evans, Alistair R. |
spellingShingle |
Marx, Felix G. Park, Travis Fitzgerald, Erich M.G. Evans, Alistair R. A Miocene pygmy right whale fossil from Australia |
author_facet |
Marx, Felix G. Park, Travis Fitzgerald, Erich M.G. Evans, Alistair R. |
author_sort |
Marx, Felix G. |
title |
A Miocene pygmy right whale fossil from Australia |
title_short |
A Miocene pygmy right whale fossil from Australia |
title_full |
A Miocene pygmy right whale fossil from Australia |
title_fullStr |
A Miocene pygmy right whale fossil from Australia |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Miocene pygmy right whale fossil from Australia |
title_sort |
miocene pygmy right whale fossil from australia |
publisher |
PeerJ |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5025 https://peerj.com/articles/5025.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/5025.xml https://peerj.com/articles/5025.html |
genre |
baleen whales |
genre_facet |
baleen whales |
op_source |
PeerJ volume 6, page e5025 ISSN 2167-8359 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5025 |
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PeerJ |
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6 |
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e5025 |
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1800748664194334720 |