The pygmy right whale Caperea marginata : the last of the cetotheres
The pygmy right whale, Caperea marginata , is the most enigmatic of the living baleen whales (Mysticeti). Its highly disparate morphology and the virtual absence of a described fossil record have made it extremely difficult to place Caperea into a broader evolutionary context, and molecular and morp...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 2024-06-02T08:04:02+00:00 The pygmy right whale Caperea marginata : the last of the cetotheres Fordyce, R. Ewan Marx, Felix G. 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 280, issue 1753, page 20122645 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2013 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 2024-05-07T14:16:08Z The pygmy right whale, Caperea marginata , is the most enigmatic of the living baleen whales (Mysticeti). Its highly disparate morphology and the virtual absence of a described fossil record have made it extremely difficult to place Caperea into a broader evolutionary context, and molecular and morphological studies have frequently contradicted each other as to the origins and phylogenetic relationships of the species. Our study of a wealth of material from New Zealand collections, representing a wide range of ontogenetic stages, has identified several new features previously unreported in Caperea , which suggest that the pygmy right whale may be the last survivor of the supposedly extinct family Cetotheriidae. This hypothesis is corroborated by both morphology-based and total evidence cladistic analyses, including 166 morphological characters and 23 taxa, representing all the living and extinct families of toothless baleen whales. Our results allow us to formally refer Caperea to Cetotheriidae, thus resurrecting the latter from extinction and helping to clarify the origins of a long-problematic living species. Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whales The Royal Society New Zealand Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280 1753 20122645 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
The pygmy right whale, Caperea marginata , is the most enigmatic of the living baleen whales (Mysticeti). Its highly disparate morphology and the virtual absence of a described fossil record have made it extremely difficult to place Caperea into a broader evolutionary context, and molecular and morphological studies have frequently contradicted each other as to the origins and phylogenetic relationships of the species. Our study of a wealth of material from New Zealand collections, representing a wide range of ontogenetic stages, has identified several new features previously unreported in Caperea , which suggest that the pygmy right whale may be the last survivor of the supposedly extinct family Cetotheriidae. This hypothesis is corroborated by both morphology-based and total evidence cladistic analyses, including 166 morphological characters and 23 taxa, representing all the living and extinct families of toothless baleen whales. Our results allow us to formally refer Caperea to Cetotheriidae, thus resurrecting the latter from extinction and helping to clarify the origins of a long-problematic living species. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fordyce, R. Ewan Marx, Felix G. |
spellingShingle |
Fordyce, R. Ewan Marx, Felix G. The pygmy right whale Caperea marginata : the last of the cetotheres |
author_facet |
Fordyce, R. Ewan Marx, Felix G. |
author_sort |
Fordyce, R. Ewan |
title |
The pygmy right whale Caperea marginata : the last of the cetotheres |
title_short |
The pygmy right whale Caperea marginata : the last of the cetotheres |
title_full |
The pygmy right whale Caperea marginata : the last of the cetotheres |
title_fullStr |
The pygmy right whale Caperea marginata : the last of the cetotheres |
title_full_unstemmed |
The pygmy right whale Caperea marginata : the last of the cetotheres |
title_sort |
pygmy right whale caperea marginata : the last of the cetotheres |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 |
geographic |
New Zealand |
geographic_facet |
New Zealand |
genre |
baleen whales |
genre_facet |
baleen whales |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 280, issue 1753, page 20122645 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
280 |
container_issue |
1753 |
container_start_page |
20122645 |
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1800748658782633984 |