Northern pygmy right whales highlight Quaternary marine mammal interchange

• Published in: Current Biology
• Main Authors: Tsai, Cheng-Hsiu, Collareta, Alberto, Fitzgerald, Erich M.G., Marx, Felix G., Kohno, Naoki, Bosselaers, Mark, Insacco, Gianni, Reitano, Agatino, Catanzariti, Rita, Oishi, Masayuki, Bianucci, Giovanni
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Southern Ocean; baleen whale
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/1146317; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.08.056

The pygmy right whale, Caperea marginata, is the most enigmatic living whale. Little is known about its ecology and behaviour, but unusual specialisations of visual pigments [1] , mitochondrial tRNAs [2] , and postcranial anatomy [3] suggest a lifestyle different from that of other extant whales. Geographically, Caperea represents the only major baleen whale lineage entirely restricted to the Southern Ocean. Caperea-like fossils, the oldest of which date to the Late Miocene, are exceedingly rare and likewise limited to the Southern Hemisphere [4] , despite a more substantial history of fossil sampling north of the equator. Two new Pleistocene fossils now provide unexpected evidence of a brief and relatively recent period in geological history when Caperea occurred in the Northern Hemisphere ( Figure 1 A,B).