From Problem Taxa to Problem Solver: A New Miocene Family, Tranatocetidae, Brings Perspective on Baleen Whale Evolution
Miocene baleen whales were highly diverse and included tens of genera. However, their taxonomy and phylogeny, as well as relationships with living whales, are still a subject of controversy. Here, “Mesocetus” argillarius, a poorly known specimen from Denmark, is redescribed with a focus on the crani...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4558012 2023-05-15T15:36:58+02:00 From Problem Taxa to Problem Solver: A New Miocene Family, Tranatocetidae, Brings Perspective on Baleen Whale Evolution Gol’din, Pavel Steeman, Mette Elstrup 2015-09-02 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4558012/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26331471 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135500 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4558012/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26331471 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135500 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited CC-BY Research Article Text 2015 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135500 2015-09-13T00:10:42Z Miocene baleen whales were highly diverse and included tens of genera. However, their taxonomy and phylogeny, as well as relationships with living whales, are still a subject of controversy. Here, “Mesocetus” argillarius, a poorly known specimen from Denmark, is redescribed with a focus on the cranial anatomy. It was found to represent not only a new genus, Tranatocetus gen. nov., but also a new family; Tranatocetidae. The whales of this family have the rostral bones either overriding or dividing the frontals; the rostral bones are contacting the parietals and nasals dividing the maxillae on the vertex; the occipital shield is dorsoventrally bent. The tympanic bulla is particularly characteristic of this family featuring a short, narrow anterior portion with a rounded or squared anterior end and a wider and higher posterior portion that is swollen in the posteroventral area. A phylogenetic analysis including 51 taxa supports a monophyletic group comprising most Neogene and modern whales, with Tranatocetidae being possibly closer related to Balaenopteridae (rorquals) than to Cetotheriidae. Tranatocetidae exhibit a charahteristic bulla shape. In fact, all Neogene and modern mysticete families examined have a unique shape of the tympanic bulla that is diagnostic at family-level. Inclusion of problematic taxa like Tranatocetus argillarius in phylogenies brings new understanding of the distribution and diagnostic value of character traits. This underlines the need for re-examination of earlier described specimens in the light of the wealth of new information published in later years. Text baleen whale baleen whales PubMed Central (PMC) PLOS ONE 10 9 e0135500 |
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Research Article Gol’din, Pavel Steeman, Mette Elstrup From Problem Taxa to Problem Solver: A New Miocene Family, Tranatocetidae, Brings Perspective on Baleen Whale Evolution |
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description |
Miocene baleen whales were highly diverse and included tens of genera. However, their taxonomy and phylogeny, as well as relationships with living whales, are still a subject of controversy. Here, “Mesocetus” argillarius, a poorly known specimen from Denmark, is redescribed with a focus on the cranial anatomy. It was found to represent not only a new genus, Tranatocetus gen. nov., but also a new family; Tranatocetidae. The whales of this family have the rostral bones either overriding or dividing the frontals; the rostral bones are contacting the parietals and nasals dividing the maxillae on the vertex; the occipital shield is dorsoventrally bent. The tympanic bulla is particularly characteristic of this family featuring a short, narrow anterior portion with a rounded or squared anterior end and a wider and higher posterior portion that is swollen in the posteroventral area. A phylogenetic analysis including 51 taxa supports a monophyletic group comprising most Neogene and modern whales, with Tranatocetidae being possibly closer related to Balaenopteridae (rorquals) than to Cetotheriidae. Tranatocetidae exhibit a charahteristic bulla shape. In fact, all Neogene and modern mysticete families examined have a unique shape of the tympanic bulla that is diagnostic at family-level. Inclusion of problematic taxa like Tranatocetus argillarius in phylogenies brings new understanding of the distribution and diagnostic value of character traits. This underlines the need for re-examination of earlier described specimens in the light of the wealth of new information published in later years. |
format |
Text |
author |
Gol’din, Pavel Steeman, Mette Elstrup |
author_facet |
Gol’din, Pavel Steeman, Mette Elstrup |
author_sort |
Gol’din, Pavel |
title |
From Problem Taxa to Problem Solver: A New Miocene Family, Tranatocetidae, Brings Perspective on Baleen Whale Evolution |
title_short |
From Problem Taxa to Problem Solver: A New Miocene Family, Tranatocetidae, Brings Perspective on Baleen Whale Evolution |
title_full |
From Problem Taxa to Problem Solver: A New Miocene Family, Tranatocetidae, Brings Perspective on Baleen Whale Evolution |
title_fullStr |
From Problem Taxa to Problem Solver: A New Miocene Family, Tranatocetidae, Brings Perspective on Baleen Whale Evolution |
title_full_unstemmed |
From Problem Taxa to Problem Solver: A New Miocene Family, Tranatocetidae, Brings Perspective on Baleen Whale Evolution |
title_sort |
from problem taxa to problem solver: a new miocene family, tranatocetidae, brings perspective on baleen whale evolution |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4558012/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26331471 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135500 |
genre |
baleen whale baleen whales |
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baleen whale baleen whales |
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4558012/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26331471 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135500 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited |
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CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135500 |
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PLOS ONE |
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