Evidence for convergent evolution of ultrasonic hearing in toothed whales (Cetacea: Odontoceti)
Toothed whales (Cetacea: Odontoceti) are the most diverse group of modern cetaceans, originating during the Eocene/Oligocene transition approximately 38 Ma. All extant odontocetes echolocate; a single origin for this behaviour is supported by a unique facial source for ultrasonic vocalizations and a...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2019.0083 2024-06-02T08:15:16+00:00 Evidence for convergent evolution of ultrasonic hearing in toothed whales (Cetacea: Odontoceti) Racicot, Rachel A. Boessenecker, Robert W. Darroch, Simon A. F. Geisler, Jonathan H. Division of Earth Sciences Vanderbilt University 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0083 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0083 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0083 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Biology Letters volume 15, issue 5, page 20190083 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X journal-article 2019 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0083 2024-05-07T14:16:04Z Toothed whales (Cetacea: Odontoceti) are the most diverse group of modern cetaceans, originating during the Eocene/Oligocene transition approximately 38 Ma. All extant odontocetes echolocate; a single origin for this behaviour is supported by a unique facial source for ultrasonic vocalizations and a cochlea adapted for hearing the corresponding echoes. The craniofacial and inner ear morphology of Oligocene odontocetes support a rapid (less than 5 Myr) early evolution of echolocation. Although some cranial features in the stem odontocetes Simocetus and Olympicetus suggest an ability to generate ultrasonic sound, until now, the bony labyrinths of taxa of this grade have not been investigated. Here, we use µCT to examine a petrosal of a taxon with clear similarities to Olympicetus avitus . Measurements of the bony labyrinth, when added to an extensive dataset of cetartiodactyls, resulted in this specimen sharing a morphospace with stem whales, suggesting a transitional inner ear. This discovery implies that either the lineage leading to this Olympicetus -like taxon lost the ability to hear ultrasonic sound, or adaptations for ultrasonic hearing evolved twice, once in xenorophids and again on the stem of the odontocete crown group. We favour the latter interpretation as it matches a well-documented convergence of craniofacial morphology between xenorophids and extant odontocetes. Article in Journal/Newspaper toothed whales The Royal Society Labyrinth ENVELOPE(160.833,160.833,-77.550,-77.550) Biology Letters 15 5 20190083 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Toothed whales (Cetacea: Odontoceti) are the most diverse group of modern cetaceans, originating during the Eocene/Oligocene transition approximately 38 Ma. All extant odontocetes echolocate; a single origin for this behaviour is supported by a unique facial source for ultrasonic vocalizations and a cochlea adapted for hearing the corresponding echoes. The craniofacial and inner ear morphology of Oligocene odontocetes support a rapid (less than 5 Myr) early evolution of echolocation. Although some cranial features in the stem odontocetes Simocetus and Olympicetus suggest an ability to generate ultrasonic sound, until now, the bony labyrinths of taxa of this grade have not been investigated. Here, we use µCT to examine a petrosal of a taxon with clear similarities to Olympicetus avitus . Measurements of the bony labyrinth, when added to an extensive dataset of cetartiodactyls, resulted in this specimen sharing a morphospace with stem whales, suggesting a transitional inner ear. This discovery implies that either the lineage leading to this Olympicetus -like taxon lost the ability to hear ultrasonic sound, or adaptations for ultrasonic hearing evolved twice, once in xenorophids and again on the stem of the odontocete crown group. We favour the latter interpretation as it matches a well-documented convergence of craniofacial morphology between xenorophids and extant odontocetes. |
author2 |
Division of Earth Sciences Vanderbilt University |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Racicot, Rachel A. Boessenecker, Robert W. Darroch, Simon A. F. Geisler, Jonathan H. |
spellingShingle |
Racicot, Rachel A. Boessenecker, Robert W. Darroch, Simon A. F. Geisler, Jonathan H. Evidence for convergent evolution of ultrasonic hearing in toothed whales (Cetacea: Odontoceti) |
author_facet |
Racicot, Rachel A. Boessenecker, Robert W. Darroch, Simon A. F. Geisler, Jonathan H. |
author_sort |
Racicot, Rachel A. |
title |
Evidence for convergent evolution of ultrasonic hearing in toothed whales (Cetacea: Odontoceti) |
title_short |
Evidence for convergent evolution of ultrasonic hearing in toothed whales (Cetacea: Odontoceti) |
title_full |
Evidence for convergent evolution of ultrasonic hearing in toothed whales (Cetacea: Odontoceti) |
title_fullStr |
Evidence for convergent evolution of ultrasonic hearing in toothed whales (Cetacea: Odontoceti) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evidence for convergent evolution of ultrasonic hearing in toothed whales (Cetacea: Odontoceti) |
title_sort |
evidence for convergent evolution of ultrasonic hearing in toothed whales (cetacea: odontoceti) |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0083 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0083 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0083 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(160.833,160.833,-77.550,-77.550) |
geographic |
Labyrinth |
geographic_facet |
Labyrinth |
genre |
toothed whales |
genre_facet |
toothed whales |
op_source |
Biology Letters volume 15, issue 5, page 20190083 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0083 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
20190083 |
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1800739393487503360 |