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 morph...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3574355 2023-05-15T15:37:05+02:00 The pygmy right whale Caperea marginata: the last of the cetotheres Fordyce, R. Ewan Marx, Felix G. 2013-02-22 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3574355 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23256199 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3574355 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23256199 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 © 2012 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Research Articles Text 2013 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 2014-02-23T01:27:52Z 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. Text baleen whales PubMed Central (PMC) New Zealand Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280 1753 20122645 |
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Research Articles Fordyce, R. Ewan Marx, Felix G. The pygmy right whale Caperea marginata: the last of the cetotheres |
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Research Articles |
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 |
Text |
author |
Fordyce, R. Ewan Marx, Felix G. |
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://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3574355 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23256199 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 |
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New Zealand |
geographic_facet |
New Zealand |
genre |
baleen whales |
genre_facet |
baleen whales |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3574355 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23256199 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 |
op_rights |
© 2012 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2645 |
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Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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280 |
container_issue |
1753 |
container_start_page |
20122645 |
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1766367551863914496 |