Evolution of gigantism in right and bowhead whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti: Balaenidae)
The evolution of gigantic body size represents a key to understand the ecological role of baleen whales in oceanic ecosystems. Many efforts have been devoted to the formulation of equations relating different body parts to total body length and mass in living and fossil mysticetes, mainly focusing o...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1876846 https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blab086 https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/134/2/498/6323450 |
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ftunivtorino:oai:iris.unito.it:2318/1876846 2023-10-29T02:34:35+01:00 Evolution of gigantism in right and bowhead whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti: Balaenidae) Bisconti M. Pellegrino L. Carnevale G. Bisconti, M., Pellegrino, L., Carnevale, G. 2021 https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1876846 https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blab086 https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/134/2/498/6323450 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000697387600015 volume:134 issue:2 firstpage:498 lastpage:524 numberofpages:27 journal:BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1876846 doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blab086 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85116461792 https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/134/2/498/6323450 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Balaenidae body ma body size evolution gigantism palaeoecology info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2021 ftunivtorino https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blab086 2023-10-03T22:15:25Z The evolution of gigantic body size represents a key to understand the ecological role of baleen whales in oceanic ecosystems. Many efforts have been devoted to the formulation of equations relating different body parts to total body length and mass in living and fossil mysticetes, mainly focusing on balaenopterid and balaenopterid-like mysticetes. Right whales (family Balaenidae) have a unique head-to-body length ratio, suggesting that their body proportions cannot be predicted effectively using equations based primarily on non-balaenid mysticetes. A new morphometric dataset of living and fossil balaenids is provided herein, and new regression equations allow one to predict the body length and mass of extinct species based on the expected head-to-body length ratio of extant balaenids. The reconstructed values are mapped on a new phylogenetic analysis of the Balaenidae, inferring body size and mass at ancestral nodes. The variations of body size and mass in Balaenidae since the early Miocene are reconstructed, revealing that: (1) a reduction in total body length occurred in the early Pliocene; (2) the origin of the gigantic body size in the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) is probably related to invasion of the Arctic Ocean in the last 3 Myr; and (3) the origin of the gigantic body size in the right whales (genus Eubalaena) occurred since the latest Miocene, probably concomitant with pulses of nutrients sustaining large zooplankton populations. We suggest that the evolution of gigantism in Balaenidae occurred independently in two lineages and, probably, in response to different palaeoenvironmental drivers Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Balaena mysticetus baleen whales bowhead whale Zooplankton Università degli studi di Torino: AperTo (Archivio Istituzionale ad Accesso Aperto) Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 134 2 498 524 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Università degli studi di Torino: AperTo (Archivio Istituzionale ad Accesso Aperto) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtorino |
language |
English |
topic |
Balaenidae body ma body size evolution gigantism palaeoecology |
spellingShingle |
Balaenidae body ma body size evolution gigantism palaeoecology Bisconti M. Pellegrino L. Carnevale G. Evolution of gigantism in right and bowhead whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti: Balaenidae) |
topic_facet |
Balaenidae body ma body size evolution gigantism palaeoecology |
description |
The evolution of gigantic body size represents a key to understand the ecological role of baleen whales in oceanic ecosystems. Many efforts have been devoted to the formulation of equations relating different body parts to total body length and mass in living and fossil mysticetes, mainly focusing on balaenopterid and balaenopterid-like mysticetes. Right whales (family Balaenidae) have a unique head-to-body length ratio, suggesting that their body proportions cannot be predicted effectively using equations based primarily on non-balaenid mysticetes. A new morphometric dataset of living and fossil balaenids is provided herein, and new regression equations allow one to predict the body length and mass of extinct species based on the expected head-to-body length ratio of extant balaenids. The reconstructed values are mapped on a new phylogenetic analysis of the Balaenidae, inferring body size and mass at ancestral nodes. The variations of body size and mass in Balaenidae since the early Miocene are reconstructed, revealing that: (1) a reduction in total body length occurred in the early Pliocene; (2) the origin of the gigantic body size in the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) is probably related to invasion of the Arctic Ocean in the last 3 Myr; and (3) the origin of the gigantic body size in the right whales (genus Eubalaena) occurred since the latest Miocene, probably concomitant with pulses of nutrients sustaining large zooplankton populations. We suggest that the evolution of gigantism in Balaenidae occurred independently in two lineages and, probably, in response to different palaeoenvironmental drivers |
author2 |
Bisconti, M., Pellegrino, L., Carnevale, G. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bisconti M. Pellegrino L. Carnevale G. |
author_facet |
Bisconti M. Pellegrino L. Carnevale G. |
author_sort |
Bisconti M. |
title |
Evolution of gigantism in right and bowhead whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti: Balaenidae) |
title_short |
Evolution of gigantism in right and bowhead whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti: Balaenidae) |
title_full |
Evolution of gigantism in right and bowhead whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti: Balaenidae) |
title_fullStr |
Evolution of gigantism in right and bowhead whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti: Balaenidae) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evolution of gigantism in right and bowhead whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti: Balaenidae) |
title_sort |
evolution of gigantism in right and bowhead whales (cetacea: mysticeti: balaenidae) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1876846 https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blab086 https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/134/2/498/6323450 |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Balaena mysticetus baleen whales bowhead whale Zooplankton |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Balaena mysticetus baleen whales bowhead whale Zooplankton |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000697387600015 volume:134 issue:2 firstpage:498 lastpage:524 numberofpages:27 journal:BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1876846 doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blab086 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85116461792 https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/134/2/498/6323450 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blab086 |
container_title |
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society |
container_volume |
134 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
498 |
op_container_end_page |
524 |
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1781057227560321024 |