Borealodon osedax, a new stem mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Washington State and its implications for fossil whale-fall communities
Baleen whales (mysticetes) lack teeth as adults and instead filter feed using keratinous baleen plates. They do not echolocate with ultrasonic frequencies like toothed whales but are instead known for infrasonic acoustics. Both baleen and infrasonic hearing are separately considered key innovations...
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ftsmithonian:oai:repository.si.edu:10088/98676 2023-05-15T15:37:11+02:00 Borealodon osedax, a new stem mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Washington State and its implications for fossil whale-fall communities Shipps, B. K. Peredo, Carlos Mauricio Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2019 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10088/98676 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.182168 unknown Royal Society Open Science Shipps, B. K., Peredo, Carlos Mauricio, and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2019. "Borealodon osedax, a new stem mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Washington State and its implications for fossil whale-fall communities." Royal Society Open Science . 6 (7):182168–182168. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.182168 2054-5703 https://hdl.handle.net/10088/98676 152137 doi:10.1098/rsos.182168 Journal Article 2019 ftsmithonian https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.182168 2020-09-09T18:36:54Z Baleen whales (mysticetes) lack teeth as adults and instead filter feed using keratinous baleen plates. They do not echolocate with ultrasonic frequencies like toothed whales but are instead known for infrasonic acoustics. Both baleen and infrasonic hearing are separately considered key innovations linked to their gigantism, evolutionary success and ecological diversity. The earliest mysticetes had teeth, and the phylogenetic position of many so-called toothed mysticetes remains debated, including those belonging to the nominal taxonomic groups Llanocetidae, Mammalodontidae and Aetiocetidae. Here, we report a new stem mysticete, Borealodon osedax gen. et sp. nov., from the Oligocene of Washington State, USA. Borealodon preserves multi-cusped teeth with apical wear; microCT scans of the inner ear indicate that the minimum frequency hearing limit of Borealodon was similar to mammalodontids. Borealodon is not recovered within a monophyletic Mammalodontidae nor a monophyletic Aetiocetidae; instead, it represents an unnamed lineage of stem Mysticeti, adding to the diversity of stem mysticetes, especially across the Rupelian-Chattian boundary. Furthermore, the presence of a putative chemosynthetic bivalve along with Osedax, a bone-boring annelid, found in association with the type specimen of Borealodon, offer more insights into the evolution of deep-sea whale-fall communities. NMNH NH-Paleobiology Peer-reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whales toothed whales Unknown Royal Society Open Science 6 7 182168 |
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ftsmithonian |
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Baleen whales (mysticetes) lack teeth as adults and instead filter feed using keratinous baleen plates. They do not echolocate with ultrasonic frequencies like toothed whales but are instead known for infrasonic acoustics. Both baleen and infrasonic hearing are separately considered key innovations linked to their gigantism, evolutionary success and ecological diversity. The earliest mysticetes had teeth, and the phylogenetic position of many so-called toothed mysticetes remains debated, including those belonging to the nominal taxonomic groups Llanocetidae, Mammalodontidae and Aetiocetidae. Here, we report a new stem mysticete, Borealodon osedax gen. et sp. nov., from the Oligocene of Washington State, USA. Borealodon preserves multi-cusped teeth with apical wear; microCT scans of the inner ear indicate that the minimum frequency hearing limit of Borealodon was similar to mammalodontids. Borealodon is not recovered within a monophyletic Mammalodontidae nor a monophyletic Aetiocetidae; instead, it represents an unnamed lineage of stem Mysticeti, adding to the diversity of stem mysticetes, especially across the Rupelian-Chattian boundary. Furthermore, the presence of a putative chemosynthetic bivalve along with Osedax, a bone-boring annelid, found in association with the type specimen of Borealodon, offer more insights into the evolution of deep-sea whale-fall communities. NMNH NH-Paleobiology Peer-reviewed |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Shipps, B. K. Peredo, Carlos Mauricio Pyenson, Nicholas D. |
spellingShingle |
Shipps, B. K. Peredo, Carlos Mauricio Pyenson, Nicholas D. Borealodon osedax, a new stem mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Washington State and its implications for fossil whale-fall communities |
author_facet |
Shipps, B. K. Peredo, Carlos Mauricio Pyenson, Nicholas D. |
author_sort |
Shipps, B. K. |
title |
Borealodon osedax, a new stem mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Washington State and its implications for fossil whale-fall communities |
title_short |
Borealodon osedax, a new stem mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Washington State and its implications for fossil whale-fall communities |
title_full |
Borealodon osedax, a new stem mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Washington State and its implications for fossil whale-fall communities |
title_fullStr |
Borealodon osedax, a new stem mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Washington State and its implications for fossil whale-fall communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Borealodon osedax, a new stem mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Washington State and its implications for fossil whale-fall communities |
title_sort |
borealodon osedax, a new stem mysticete (mammalia, cetacea) from the oligocene of washington state and its implications for fossil whale-fall communities |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10088/98676 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.182168 |
genre |
baleen whales toothed whales |
genre_facet |
baleen whales toothed whales |
op_relation |
Royal Society Open Science Shipps, B. K., Peredo, Carlos Mauricio, and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2019. "Borealodon osedax, a new stem mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Washington State and its implications for fossil whale-fall communities." Royal Society Open Science . 6 (7):182168–182168. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.182168 2054-5703 https://hdl.handle.net/10088/98676 152137 doi:10.1098/rsos.182168 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.182168 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
182168 |
_version_ |
1766367636690567168 |