JUMPING FROM TURTLES TO WHALES: A PLIOCENE FOSSIL RECORD DEPICTS AN ANCIENT DISPERSAL OF CHELONIBIA ON MYSTICETES ...

• Main Authors: COLLARETA, ALBERTO, BOSSELAERS, MARK, BIANUCCI, GIOVANNI
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Università degli Studi di Milano 2016
• Subjects: Chelonibiidae; Turtle barnacles; Coronulidae; whale barnacles; baleen whales; evolution; symbiosis; taphonomy; baleen whale; baleen whales
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.13130/2039-4942/7229; http://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/RIPS/article/view/7229

The barnacles included in the superfamily Coronuloidea are epizoic symbionts of various marine vertebrates (including cetaceans, sirenians, and sea turtles) and other crustaceans (crabs and horseshoe crabs). Among Coronuloidea, the so-called turtle barnacles (Chelonibiidae) are known from Paleogene times, whereas the whale barnacles (Coronulidae) likely appeared in the late Pliocene (Piacenzian). Although a derivation from the turtle barnacles (and especially from the genus Chelonibia) has been proposed, the evolutionary origin of Coronulidae remains to date obscure. In this work we reappraise a fossil record from upper Pliocene (Piacenzian) marine deposits at Casenuove (Empoli municipality, Tuscany, Italy) comprising various shells of Chelonibia testudinaria associated to a partial skeleton of a balaenid mysticete. Based on taphonomic and morpho-functional considerations, we discuss the hypothesis that the barnacles were hosted on the baleen whale, possibly on its callosities, which could have represented ... : Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia (Research In Paleontology and Stratigraphy), Vol 122, No 2 (2016) ...