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Benites-Palomino A, Aguirre-Fernández G, Baby P, Ochoa D, Altamirano A, Flynn JJ, Sánchez-Villagra MR, Tejada JV, de Muizon C, Salas-Gismondi R. The largest freshwater odontocete: A South Asian river dolphin relative from the proto-Amazonia. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadk6320. [PMID: 38507490 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adk6320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024]
Abstract
Several dolphin lineages have independently invaded freshwater systems. Among these, the evolution of the South Asian river dolphin Platanista and its relatives (Platanistidae) remains virtually unknown as fossils are scarce. Here, we describe Pebanista yacuruna gen. et sp. nov., a dolphin from the Miocene proto-Amazonia of Peru, recovered in phylogenies as the closest relative of Platanista. Morphological characters such as an elongated rostrum and large supraorbital crests, along with ecological interpretations, indicate that this odontocete was fully adapted to fresh waters. Pebanista constitutes the largest freshwater odontocete known, with an estimated body length of 3 meters, highlighting the ample resource availability and biotic diversity in the region, during the Early to Middle Miocene. The finding of Pebanista in proto-Amazonian layers attests that platanistids ventured into freshwater ecosystems not only in South Asia but also in South America, before the modern Amazon River dolphin, during a crucial moment for the Amazonian evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aldo Benites-Palomino
- Department of Paleontology, University of Zurich, Karl-Schmid-Strasse 4, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland
- Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo de Historia Natural-Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Avenida Arenales 1256, Lima 11, Peru
| | | | - Patrice Baby
- Geosciences-Environnements Toulouse, Université de Toulouse, UPS (SVT-OMP), CNRS, IRD, 14 Avenue Édouard Belin, Toulouse 31400, France
| | - Diana Ochoa
- Facultad de Ciencias e Ingienerías/Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral y Sostenible, Laboratorios de Investigación y Desarrollo, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
- Departmento de Geología, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca 37008, Spain
| | - Ali Altamirano
- Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo de Historia Natural-Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Avenida Arenales 1256, Lima 11, Peru
| | - John J Flynn
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA
- Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
- Graduate Programs in Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | | | - Julia V Tejada
- Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo de Historia Natural-Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Avenida Arenales 1256, Lima 11, Peru
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Christian de Muizon
- Departement Origines et Evolution, CR2P UMR 7207, (MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, Sorbonne-Université), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, rue Cuvier 57, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi
- Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo de Historia Natural-Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Avenida Arenales 1256, Lima 11, Peru
- Facultad de Ciencias e Ingienerías/Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral y Sostenible, Laboratorios de Investigación y Desarrollo, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA
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Benites-Palomino A, Vélez-Juarbe J, De Gracia C, Jaramillo C. Bridging two oceans: small toothed cetaceans (Odontoceti) from the Late Miocene Chagres Formation, eastern Caribbean (Colon, Panama). Biol Lett 2023; 19:20230124. [PMID: 37340808 PMCID: PMC10282590 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Fossil cetaceans are often found in Miocene marine outcrops across the globe. However, because this record is not homogeneous, the dissimilar increase in occurrences, along with the sampling bias has created regions with extensive records and others with great scarcity. Among these, the Caribbean has remained enigmatic due to the lack of well-preserved cetacean fossils. Here, we report new Caribbean fossil cetaceans from the Upper Miocene Chagres Formation exposed along Piña beach, Eastern Panama, including a scaphokogiine kogiid, an Acrophyseter-like physeteroid and the phocoenid Piscolithax. Along with previous records of the iniid Isthminia panamensis and the kogiine Nanokogia isthmia, the Chagres cetacean fauna shows some similarities with other Late Miocene cetacean communities such as the Californias in the North Pacific, although their closest affinities lie with the eastern South Pacific Pisco Formation, Peru. Such findings indicate that though deep and intermediate Caribbean-Pacific water interchange was reduced by the Middle Miocene due to the shallowing of the Central American Seaway, shallow waters marine connection that persisted until the Pliocene might have facilitated the dispersal of coastal species across both sides of the Isthmus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aldo Benites-Palomino
- Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich, Karl-Schmid-Strasse 4, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland
- Center for Tropical Paleoecology and Archeology, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancón 0843-03092, Panama
- Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo de Historia Natural-Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Avenida Arenales 1256, Lima 11, Perú
| | - Jorge Vélez-Juarbe
- Department of Mammalogy, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
| | - Carlos De Gracia
- Center for Tropical Paleoecology and Archeology, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancón 0843-03092, Panama
- Department of Palaeontology, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy, University of Vienna, Josef Holaubek Platz 2 (UZA II)/2A323, 1090 Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution (VDSEE), University of Vienna, Djerassiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | - Carlos Jaramillo
- Center for Tropical Paleoecology and Archeology, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancón 0843-03092, Panama
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Burin G, Park T, James TD, Slater GJ, Cooper N. The dynamic adaptive landscape of cetacean body size. Curr Biol 2023; 33:1787-1794.e3. [PMID: 36990088 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.03.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 03/06/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023]
Abstract
Adaptive landscapes are central to evolutionary theory, forming a conceptual bridge between micro- and macroevolution.1,2,3,4 Evolution by natural selection across an adaptive landscape should drive lineages toward fitness peaks, shaping the distribution of phenotypic variation within and among clades over evolutionary timescales.5 The location and breadth of these peaks in phenotypic space can also evolve,4 but whether phylogenetic comparative methods can detect such patterns has largely remained unexplored.6 Here, we characterize the global and local adaptive landscape for total body length in cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and relatives), a trait that spans 5 orders of magnitude, across their ∼53 million year evolutionary history. Using phylogenetic comparative methods, we analyze shifts in long-term mean body length7 and directional changes in average trait values8 for 345 living and fossil cetacean taxa. Remarkably, we find that the global macroevolutionary adaptive landscape of cetacean body length is relatively flat, with very few peak shifts occurring after cetaceans entered the oceans. Local peaks are more numerous and manifest as trends along branches linked to specific adaptations. These results contrast with previous studies using only extant taxa,9 highlighting the vital role of fossil data for understanding macroevolution.10,11,12 Our results indicate that adaptive peaks are dynamic and are associated with subzones of local adaptations, creating moving targets for species adaptation. In addition, we identify limits in our ability to detect some evolutionary patterns and processes and suggest that multiple approaches are required to characterize complex hierarchical patterns of adaptation in deep time.
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Bianucci G, Geisler JH, Citron S, Collareta A. The origins of the killer whale ecomorph. Curr Biol 2022; 32:1843-1851.e2. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.02.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Revised: 01/30/2022] [Accepted: 02/10/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Benites-Palomino A, Reyes-Cespedes AE, Aguirre-Fernández G, Sánchez R, Carrillo-Briceño JD, Sánchez-Villagra MR. A stem delphinidan from the Caribbean region of Venezuela. SWISS JOURNAL OF PALAEONTOLOGY 2021; 140:6. [PMID: 33746896 PMCID: PMC7929948 DOI: 10.1186/s13358-021-00217-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2020] [Accepted: 01/22/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The dense Miocene record of cetaceans is known from localities along the coasts of all continents, mostly in the northern Atlantic or the eastern Pacific regions, but Antarctica. Fossils from the Caribbean region are few and include of a couple of findings from Panama and Venezuela. Here, we report a partly complete skull from the Caujarao Formation (middle Miocene), Falcon State, Caribbean region of Venezuela. Our phylogenetic analyses indicate that the Caujarao specimen is a 'stem delphinidan', a group that includes several taxa of early diverging odontocetes whose phylogenetic affinities remain a matter of debate. The fossil record has shown that this group of stem delphinidans was taxonomically diverse, but displayed a somewhat homogeneous cranial patterning, with most of the variations being found within the mandible or tympanoperiotic characters. As other stem delphinidans the Caujarao odontocete displays an enlarged temporal fossa and a fairly symmetrical cranium. Because the skull is missing several key diagnostic characters due to the preservation state of the specimen, a more precise taxonomic identification is not possible. Despite this, the finding of this specimen highlights the importance of the fossil record from the Neogene of Venezuela, and the importance of the area to understand cetacean evolution in the proto-Caribbean.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aldo Benites-Palomino
- Paläontologisches Institut Und Museum, Universität Zürich, Karl-Schmid-Strasse 4, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | - Gabriel Aguirre-Fernández
- Paläontologisches Institut Und Museum, Universität Zürich, Karl-Schmid-Strasse 4, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Rodolfo Sánchez
- Museo Paleontológico de Urumaco, Urumaco, Estado Falcón Venezuela
| | - Jorge D. Carrillo-Briceño
- Paläontologisches Institut Und Museum, Universität Zürich, Karl-Schmid-Strasse 4, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland
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Leslie MS, Peredo CM, Pyenson ND. Norrisanima miocaena, a new generic name and redescription of a stem balaenopteroid mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Miocene of California. PeerJ 2019; 7:e7629. [PMID: 31608165 PMCID: PMC6788442 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2019] [Accepted: 08/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Rorqual whales are among the most species rich group of baleen whales (or mysticetes) alive today, yet the monophyly of the traditional grouping (i.e., Balaenopteridae) remains unclear. Additionally, many fossil mysticetes putatively assigned to either Balaenopteridae or Balaenopteroidea may actually belong to stem lineages, although many of these fossil taxa suffer from inadequate descriptions of fragmentary skeletal material. Here we provide a redescription of the holotype of Megaptera miocaena, a fossil balaenopteroid from the Monterey Formation of California, which consists of a partial cranium, a fragment of the rostrum, a single vertebra, and both tympanoperiotics. Kellogg (1922) assigned the type specimen to the genus MegapteraGray (1846), on the basis of its broad similarities to distinctive traits in the cranium of extant humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781)). Subsequent phylogenetic analyses have found these two species as sister taxa in morphological datasets alone; the most recent systematic analyses using both molecular and morphological data sets place Megaptera miocaena as a stem balaenopteroid unrelated to humpback whales. Here, we redescribe the type specimen of Megaptera miocaena in the context of other fossil balaenopteroids discovered nearly a century since Kellogg’s original description and provide a morphological basis for discriminating it from Megaptera novaeangliae. We also provide a new generic name and recombine the taxon as Norrisanima miocaena, gen. nov., to reflect its phylogenetic position outside of crown Balaenopteroidea, unrelated to extant Megaptera. Lastly, we refine the stratigraphic age of Norrisanima miocaena, based on associated microfossils to a Tortonian age (7.6–7.3 Ma), which carries implications for understanding the origin of key features associated with feeding and body size evolution in this group of whales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew S Leslie
- Biology Department, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, United States of America.,Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America.,Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Carlos Mauricio Peredo
- Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America
| | - Nicholas D Pyenson
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America.,Department of Paleontology and Geology, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, WA, United States of America
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Lambert O, Auclair C, Cauxeiro C, Lopez M, Adnet S. A close relative of the Amazon river dolphin in marine deposits: a new Iniidae from the late Miocene of Angola. PeerJ 2018; 6:e5556. [PMID: 30225172 PMCID: PMC6139015 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.5556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2018] [Accepted: 08/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background A few odontocetes (echolocating toothed cetaceans) have been able to independently colonize freshwater ecosystems. Although some extant species of delphinids (true dolphins) and phocoenids (porpoises) at least occasionally migrate upstream of large river systems, they have close relatives in fully marine regions. This contrasts with the three odontocete families only containing extant species with a strictly freshwater habitat (Iniidae in South America, the recently extinct Lipotidae in China, and Platanistidae in southeast Asia). Among those, the fossil record of Iniidae includes taxa from freshwater deposits of South America, partly overlapping geographically with the extant Amazon river dolphin Inia geoffrensis, whereas a few marine species from the Americas were only tentatively referred to the family, leaving the transition from a marine to freshwater environment poorly understood. Methods Based on a partial odontocete skeleton including the cranium, discovered in late Miocene (Tortonian-Messinian) marine deposits near the estuary of the Cuanza River, Angola, we describe a new large iniid genus and species. The new taxon is compared to other extinct and extant iniids, and its phylogenetic relationships with the latter are investigated through cladistic analysis. Results and Discussion The new genus and species Kwanzacetus khoisani shares a series of morphological features with Inia geoffrensis, including the combination of a frontal boss with nasals being lower on the anterior wall of the vertex, the laterally directed postorbital process of the frontal, the anteroposterior thickening of the nuchal crest, and robust teeth with wrinkled enamel. As confirmed (although with a low support) with the phylogenetic analysis, this makes the new taxon the closest relative of I. geoffrensis found in marine deposits. The geographic provenance of K. khoisani, on the eastern coast of South Atlantic, suggests that the transition from the marine environment to a freshwater, Amazonian habitat may have occurred on the Atlantic side of South America. This new record further increases the inioid diversity during the late Miocene, a time interval confirmed here as the heyday for this superfamily. Finally, this first description of a Neogene cetacean from inland deposits of western sub-Saharan Africa reveals the potential of this large coastal area for deciphering key steps of the evolutionary history of modern cetaceans in the South Atlantic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivier Lambert
- D.O. Terre et Histoire de la Vie, Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Camille Auclair
- ISEM, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.,Sardent, France
| | - Cirilo Cauxeiro
- Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade Agostinho Neto, Luanda, Angola.,Geosciences, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Michel Lopez
- Geosciences, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Sylvain Adnet
- ISEM, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
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Post K, Louwye S, Lambert O. Scaldiporia vandokkumi, a new pontoporiid (Mammalia, Cetacea, Odontoceti) from the Late Miocene to earliest Pliocene of the Westerschelde estuary (The Netherlands). PeerJ 2017; 5:e3991. [PMID: 29109917 PMCID: PMC5671118 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.3991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2017] [Accepted: 10/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The family Pontoporiidae (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Inioidea) is currently represented in our oceans by just one species of diminutive dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei, franciscana). Although P. blainvillei is limited to coastal waters of the South Atlantic along Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, multiple Miocene and Pliocene fossils indicate the past presence of members of the family in the South Atlantic, South Paciifc and North Atlantic oceans. Our comprehension of the origin and diversity of this clade and of the relationships of its members with other inioids is hampered by the fact that part of the described fossil specimens, especially from the North Atlantic realm, are cranial fragments often associated to limited stratigraphic information. Methods Based on an almost complete fossil cranium of pontoporiid from the Westerschelde estuary, The Netherlands, whose preservation allows for detailed morphological observations, we describe a new genus and species. The latter is compared to other pontoporiids, as well as a few non-pontoporiid inioids. A phylogenetic analysis is performed to investigate the relationship of S. vandokkumi with the best-known extinct and extant inioids. Palynological analysis of the sediment associated to the holotype is used to assess its geological age. Results and discussion The new genus and species Scaldiporia vandokkumi is characterized among others by greatly thickened premaxillary eminences reaching the level of the antorbital notch. Palynologically dated from the late Tortonian—earliest Zanclean (7.6–5 Ma, Late Miocene—earliest Pliocene), this new pontoporiid confirms the surprising past diversity of marine inioids in the North Atlantic area. Finally the content of the pontoporiid subfamily Brachydelphininae is briefly discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Klaas Post
- Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Stephen Louwye
- Paleontology Research Unit, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Olivier Lambert
- D.O. Terre et Histoire de la Vie, Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
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Biodiversity in the Amazon: Origin Hypotheses, Intrinsic Capacity of Species Colonization, and Comparative Phylogeography of River Otters (Lontra longicaudis and Pteronura brasiliensis, Mustelidae, Carnivora) and Pink River Dolphin (Inia sp., Iniidae, Cetacea). J MAMM EVOL 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-016-9375-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Boersma AT, Pyenson ND. Arktocara yakataga, a new fossil odontocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Alaska and the antiquity of Platanistoidea. PeerJ 2016; 4:e2321. [PMID: 27602287 PMCID: PMC4991871 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.2321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2016] [Accepted: 07/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The diversification of crown cetacean lineages (i.e., crown Odontoceti and crown Mysticeti) occurred throughout the Oligocene, but it remains an ongoing challenge to resolve the phylogenetic pattern of their origins, especially with respect to stem lineages. One extant monotypic lineage, Platanista gangetica (the Ganges and Indus river dolphin), is the sole surviving member of the broader group Platanistoidea, with many fossil relatives that range from Oligocene to Miocene in age. Curiously, the highly threatened Platanista is restricted today to freshwater river systems of South Asia, yet nearly all fossil platanistoids are known globally from marine rocks, suggesting a marine ancestry for this group. In recent years, studies on the phylogenetic relationships in Platanistoidea have reached a general consensus about the membership of different sub-clades and putative extinct groups, although the position of some platanistoid groups (e.g., Waipatiidae) has been contested. Here we describe a new genus and species of fossil platanistoid, Arktocara yakataga, gen. et sp. nov. from the Oligocene of Alaska, USA. The type and only known specimen was collected from the marine Poul Creek Formation, a unit known to include Oligocene strata, exposed in the Yakutat City and Borough of Southeast Alaska. In our phylogenetic analysis of stem and node-based Platanistoidea, Arktocara falls within the node-based sub-clade Allodelphinidae as the sister taxon to Allodelphis pratti. With a geochronologic age between ∼29–24 million years old, Arktocara is among the oldest crown Odontoceti, reinforcing the long-standing view that the diversification for crown lineages must have occurred no later than the early Oligocene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra T Boersma
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., United States of America; College of Extended Education, California State University, Monterey Bay, Seaside, CA, United States of America
| | - Nicholas D Pyenson
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., United States of America; Departments of Mammology and Paleontology, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, WA, United States of America
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