The oldest marine vertebrate fossil from the volcanic island of Iceland: a partial right whale skull from the high latitude Pliocene Tjörnes Formation
Abstract Extant baleen whales (Cetacea, Mysticeti) are a disparate and species‐rich group, but little is known about their fossil record in the northernmost Atlantic Ocean, a region that supports considerable extant cetacean diversity. Iceland's geographical setting, dividing North Atlantic and...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pala.12275 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fpala.12275 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/pala.12275 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/pala.12275 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1111/pala.12275 |
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crwiley:10.1111/pala.12275 2023-12-03T10:17:58+01:00 The oldest marine vertebrate fossil from the volcanic island of Iceland: a partial right whale skull from the high latitude Pliocene Tjörnes Formation Field, Daniel J. Boessenecker, Robert Racicot, Rachel A. Ásbjörnsdóttir, Lovísa Jónasson, Kristján Hsiang, Allison Y. Behlke, Adam D. Vinther, Jakob O'Regan, Hannah National Science Foundation 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pala.12275 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fpala.12275 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/pala.12275 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/pala.12275 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1111/pala.12275 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#am http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Palaeontology volume 60, issue 2, page 141-148 ISSN 0031-0239 1475-4983 Paleontology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2017 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12275 2023-11-09T13:15:59Z Abstract Extant baleen whales (Cetacea, Mysticeti) are a disparate and species‐rich group, but little is known about their fossil record in the northernmost Atlantic Ocean, a region that supports considerable extant cetacean diversity. Iceland's geographical setting, dividing North Atlantic and Arctic waters, renders it ideally situated to shed light on cetacean evolution in this region. However, as a volcanic island, Iceland exhibits very little marine sedimentary exposure, and fossil whales from Iceland older than the late Pleistocene are virtually unknown. Here, we present the first fossil whale found in situ from the Pliocene Tjörnes Formation ( c . 4.5 Ma), Iceland's only substantial marine sedimentary outcrop. The specimen is diagnosed as a partial skull from a large right whale (Mysticeti, Balaenidae). This discovery highlights the Tjörnes Formation as a potentially productive fossil vertebrate locality. Additionally, this find indicates that right whales ( Eubalaena ) and bowhead whales ( Balaena ) were sympatric, with broadly overlapping latitudinal ranges in the Pliocene, in contrast to the modern latitudinal separation of their living counterparts. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic baleen whales Iceland North Atlantic Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) Arctic Tjörnes ENVELOPE(-17.087,-17.087,66.152,66.152) Palaeontology 60 2 141 148 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
topic |
Paleontology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Paleontology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Field, Daniel J. Boessenecker, Robert Racicot, Rachel A. Ásbjörnsdóttir, Lovísa Jónasson, Kristján Hsiang, Allison Y. Behlke, Adam D. Vinther, Jakob The oldest marine vertebrate fossil from the volcanic island of Iceland: a partial right whale skull from the high latitude Pliocene Tjörnes Formation |
topic_facet |
Paleontology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Extant baleen whales (Cetacea, Mysticeti) are a disparate and species‐rich group, but little is known about their fossil record in the northernmost Atlantic Ocean, a region that supports considerable extant cetacean diversity. Iceland's geographical setting, dividing North Atlantic and Arctic waters, renders it ideally situated to shed light on cetacean evolution in this region. However, as a volcanic island, Iceland exhibits very little marine sedimentary exposure, and fossil whales from Iceland older than the late Pleistocene are virtually unknown. Here, we present the first fossil whale found in situ from the Pliocene Tjörnes Formation ( c . 4.5 Ma), Iceland's only substantial marine sedimentary outcrop. The specimen is diagnosed as a partial skull from a large right whale (Mysticeti, Balaenidae). This discovery highlights the Tjörnes Formation as a potentially productive fossil vertebrate locality. Additionally, this find indicates that right whales ( Eubalaena ) and bowhead whales ( Balaena ) were sympatric, with broadly overlapping latitudinal ranges in the Pliocene, in contrast to the modern latitudinal separation of their living counterparts. |
author2 |
O'Regan, Hannah National Science Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Field, Daniel J. Boessenecker, Robert Racicot, Rachel A. Ásbjörnsdóttir, Lovísa Jónasson, Kristján Hsiang, Allison Y. Behlke, Adam D. Vinther, Jakob |
author_facet |
Field, Daniel J. Boessenecker, Robert Racicot, Rachel A. Ásbjörnsdóttir, Lovísa Jónasson, Kristján Hsiang, Allison Y. Behlke, Adam D. Vinther, Jakob |
author_sort |
Field, Daniel J. |
title |
The oldest marine vertebrate fossil from the volcanic island of Iceland: a partial right whale skull from the high latitude Pliocene Tjörnes Formation |
title_short |
The oldest marine vertebrate fossil from the volcanic island of Iceland: a partial right whale skull from the high latitude Pliocene Tjörnes Formation |
title_full |
The oldest marine vertebrate fossil from the volcanic island of Iceland: a partial right whale skull from the high latitude Pliocene Tjörnes Formation |
title_fullStr |
The oldest marine vertebrate fossil from the volcanic island of Iceland: a partial right whale skull from the high latitude Pliocene Tjörnes Formation |
title_full_unstemmed |
The oldest marine vertebrate fossil from the volcanic island of Iceland: a partial right whale skull from the high latitude Pliocene Tjörnes Formation |
title_sort |
oldest marine vertebrate fossil from the volcanic island of iceland: a partial right whale skull from the high latitude pliocene tjörnes formation |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pala.12275 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fpala.12275 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/pala.12275 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/pala.12275 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1111/pala.12275 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-17.087,-17.087,66.152,66.152) |
geographic |
Arctic Tjörnes |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Tjörnes |
genre |
Arctic baleen whales Iceland North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Arctic baleen whales Iceland North Atlantic |
op_source |
Palaeontology volume 60, issue 2, page 141-148 ISSN 0031-0239 1475-4983 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#am http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12275 |
container_title |
Palaeontology |
container_volume |
60 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
141 |
op_container_end_page |
148 |
_version_ |
1784264931401531392 |