Supplemental Information from Giant baleen whales emerged from a cold southern cradle ...

• Main Authors: Rule, James P., Duncan, Ruairidh J., Marx, Felix G., Pollock, Tahlia I., Evans, Alistair R., Fitzgerald, Erich M.G.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: The Royal Society 2023
• Subjects: Animal systematics and taxonomy; Plant and fungus systematics and taxonomy; Evolutionary biology not elsewhere classified; Palaeontology incl. palynology; baleen whale; baleen whales
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24712132; https://rs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Supplemental_Information_from_Giant_baleen_whales_emerged_from_a_cold_southern_cradle/24712132

Baleen whales (mysticetes) include the largest animals on the Earth. How they achieved such gigantic sizes remains debated, with previous research focusing primarily on when mysticetes became large, rather than where. Here, we describe an edentulous baleen whale fossil (21.12–16.39 mega annum (Ma)) from South Australia. With an estimated body length of 9 m, it is the largest mysticete from the Early Miocene. Analysing body size through time shows that ancient baleen whales from the Southern Hemisphere were larger than their northern counterparts. This pattern seemingly persists for much of the Cenozoic, even though southern specimens contribute only 19% to the global mysticete fossil record. Our findings contrast with previous ideas of a single abrupt shift towards larger size during the Plio-Pleistocene, which we here interpret as a glacially driven Northern Hemisphere phenomenon. Our results highlight the importance of incorporating Southern Hemisphere fossils into macroevolutionary patterns, especially in ...