Salishicetus meadi, a new aetiocetid from the late Oligocene of Washington State and implications for feeding transitions in early mysticete evolution
Living baleen whales, or Mysticeti, lack teeth and instead feed using keratinous baleen plates to sieve prey-laden water. This feeding strategy is profoundly different from that of their toothed ancestors, which processed prey using the differentiated dentition characteristic of mammals. The fossil...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsos.172336 2024-06-02T08:04:02+00:00 Salishicetus meadi, a new aetiocetid from the late Oligocene of Washington State and implications for feeding transitions in early mysticete evolution Peredo, Carlos Mauricio Pyenson, Nicholas D. National Museum of Natural History Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172336 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.172336 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.172336 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Royal Society Open Science volume 5, issue 4, page 172336 ISSN 2054-5703 journal-article 2018 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172336 2024-05-07T14:16:26Z Living baleen whales, or Mysticeti, lack teeth and instead feed using keratinous baleen plates to sieve prey-laden water. This feeding strategy is profoundly different from that of their toothed ancestors, which processed prey using the differentiated dentition characteristic of mammals. The fossil record of mysticetes reveals stem members that include extinct taxa with dentition, illuminating the morphological states that preceded the loss of teeth and the subsequent origin of baleen. The relationships among stem mysticetes, including putative clades such as Mammalodontidae and Aetiocetidae, remain debatable. Aetiocetids are among the more species-rich clade of stem mysticetes, and known only from fossil localities along the North Pacific coastline. Here, we report a new aetiocetid, Salishicetus meadi gen. et sp. nov, from the late Oligocene of Washington State, USA. Salishicetus preserves a near-complete lower dentition with extensive occlusal wear, indicating that it processed prey using shearing cheek teeth in the same way as its stem cetacean ancestors. Using a matrix with all known species of aetiocetids, we recover a monophyletic Aetiocetidae, crownward of a basal clade of Mammalodontidae. The description of Salishicetus resolves phylogenetic relationships among aetiocetids, which provides a basis for reconstructing ancestral feeding morphology along the stem leading to crown Mysticeti. Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whales The Royal Society Pacific Royal Society Open Science 5 4 172336 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
The Royal Society |
op_collection_id |
crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Living baleen whales, or Mysticeti, lack teeth and instead feed using keratinous baleen plates to sieve prey-laden water. This feeding strategy is profoundly different from that of their toothed ancestors, which processed prey using the differentiated dentition characteristic of mammals. The fossil record of mysticetes reveals stem members that include extinct taxa with dentition, illuminating the morphological states that preceded the loss of teeth and the subsequent origin of baleen. The relationships among stem mysticetes, including putative clades such as Mammalodontidae and Aetiocetidae, remain debatable. Aetiocetids are among the more species-rich clade of stem mysticetes, and known only from fossil localities along the North Pacific coastline. Here, we report a new aetiocetid, Salishicetus meadi gen. et sp. nov, from the late Oligocene of Washington State, USA. Salishicetus preserves a near-complete lower dentition with extensive occlusal wear, indicating that it processed prey using shearing cheek teeth in the same way as its stem cetacean ancestors. Using a matrix with all known species of aetiocetids, we recover a monophyletic Aetiocetidae, crownward of a basal clade of Mammalodontidae. The description of Salishicetus resolves phylogenetic relationships among aetiocetids, which provides a basis for reconstructing ancestral feeding morphology along the stem leading to crown Mysticeti. |
author2 |
National Museum of Natural History Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Peredo, Carlos Mauricio Pyenson, Nicholas D. |
spellingShingle |
Peredo, Carlos Mauricio Pyenson, Nicholas D. Salishicetus meadi, a new aetiocetid from the late Oligocene of Washington State and implications for feeding transitions in early mysticete evolution |
author_facet |
Peredo, Carlos Mauricio Pyenson, Nicholas D. |
author_sort |
Peredo, Carlos Mauricio |
title |
Salishicetus meadi, a new aetiocetid from the late Oligocene of Washington State and implications for feeding transitions in early mysticete evolution |
title_short |
Salishicetus meadi, a new aetiocetid from the late Oligocene of Washington State and implications for feeding transitions in early mysticete evolution |
title_full |
Salishicetus meadi, a new aetiocetid from the late Oligocene of Washington State and implications for feeding transitions in early mysticete evolution |
title_fullStr |
Salishicetus meadi, a new aetiocetid from the late Oligocene of Washington State and implications for feeding transitions in early mysticete evolution |
title_full_unstemmed |
Salishicetus meadi, a new aetiocetid from the late Oligocene of Washington State and implications for feeding transitions in early mysticete evolution |
title_sort |
salishicetus meadi, a new aetiocetid from the late oligocene of washington state and implications for feeding transitions in early mysticete evolution |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172336 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.172336 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.172336 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
baleen whales |
genre_facet |
baleen whales |
op_source |
Royal Society Open Science volume 5, issue 4, page 172336 ISSN 2054-5703 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172336 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
172336 |
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1800748668136980480 |