Project 2238: F. G. Marx, C. Tsai, R. E. Fordyce. 2015. A new Early Oligocene toothed ‘baleen’ whale (Mysticeti: Aetiocetidae) from western North America: one of the oldest and the smallest. Royal Society Open Science. 2 (12):150476.
Abstract
Archaic toothed mysticetes represent the evolutionary transition from raptorial to bulk filter feeding in baleen whales. Aetiocetids, in particular, preserve an intermediate morphological stage in which teeth functioned alongside a precursor of baleen, the hallmark of all modern mysticetes. To date, however, aetiocetids are almost exclusively Late Oligocene and coeval with both other toothed mysticetes and fully fledged filter feeders. By contrast, reports of cetaceans from the Early Oligocene remain rare, leaving the origins of aetiocetids, and thus of baleen, largely in the dark. Here, we report a new aetiocetid, Fucaia buelli, from the earliest Oligocene (ca 33–31 Ma) of western North America. The new material narrows the temporal gap between aetiocetids and the oldest known mysticete, Llanocetus (ca 34 Ma). The specimen preserves abundant morphological detail relating to the phylogenetically informative ear bones (otherwise poorly documented in this family), the hyoid apparatus and much of the (heterodont) dentition. Fucaia comprises some of the smallest known mysticetes, comparable in size with the smallest odontocetes. Based on their phylogenetic relationships and dental and mandibular morphology, including tooth wear patterns, we propose that aetiocetids were suction-assisted raptorial feeders and interpret this strategy as a crucial, intermediary step, enabling the transition from raptorial to filter feeding. Following this line of argument, a combination of raptorial and suction feeding would have been ancestral to all toothed mysticetes, and possibly even baleen whales as a whole.Read the article »
Article DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150476
Project DOI: 10.7934/P2238, http://dx.doi.org/10.7934/P2238
This project contains | Matrices |
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Download Project SDD File ![]() | Total scored cells: 272 Total media associated with cells: 172 Total labels associated with cell media: 186 |
Characters | |
Total characters: 272 Total characters with associated media: 0 Total characters with media with labels: 0 Total character states: 635 Total character states with associated media: 0 Total character states with media with labels:0 Total unordered/ordered characters:247/25 |
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MorphoBank Project 2238
MorphoBank Project 2238
- Creation Date:
14 August 2015 - Publication Date:
02 December 2015 - Project views: 36356
- Matrix downloads: 27
Authors' Institutions
- National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
- University of Otago
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan
Members
member name | taxa ![]() |
specimens ![]() |
media ![]() | chars ![]() | character
| cell scorings (scored, NPA, "-") | cell
| rules ![]() | ||||||||
Felix Marx Project Administrator | 1 | 1 | 52 | 272 | 0 | 0 | 272 (149, 120, 3) | 3 | 172 | 186 | 0 |
Taxonomic Overview for Matrix 'M23561' (1 Taxon)
taxon | unscored cells |
scored cells ![]() |
no cell support ![]() |
NPA cells |
"-" cells | cell images | labels on cell images |
member access |
[1] † Fucaia buelli Last Modified in 09/10/15 | 0 | 149 | 0 | 120 | 3 | 172 | 186 | none |
Project views 
type | number of views | Individual items viewed (where applicable) |
Total project views | 36356 | |
Project overview | 3192 | |
Matrix views | 2059 | Matrix landing page (1828 views); Fucaia (231 views); |
Documents list | 1399 | |
Media views | 25238 | Media search (3469 views); M390797 (438 views); M390787 (532 views); M390819 (400 views); M390829 (397 views); M390786 (399 views); M390836 (377 views); M390790 (462 views); M390810 (397 views); M390830 (379 views); M390806 (428 views); M390834 (364 views); M390825 (395 views); M390818 (433 views); M390816 (454 views); M390833 (361 views); M390813 (425 views); M390793 (524 views); M390832 (369 views); M390823 (399 views); M390831 (369 views); M390788 (468 views); M390792 (425 views); M390812 (440 views); M390799 (438 views); M390822 (466 views); M390814 (486 views); M390804 (391 views); M390824 (416 views); M390794 (416 views); M390821 (416 views); M390802 (405 views); M390827 (384 views); M390820 (425 views); M390811 (419 views); M390835 (379 views); M395328 (386 views); M390795 (413 views); M390796 (410 views); M390826 (395 views); M390789 (403 views); M390800 (439 views); M390808 (433 views); M390807 (438 views); M390798 (402 views); M390815 (414 views); M390791 (462 views); M390809 (427 views); M390803 (413 views); M390817 (427 views); M390805 (439 views); M390828 (361 views); M390801 (431 views); |
Taxon list | 1868 | |
Specimen list | 1766 | |
Bibliography | 834 |
Project downloads 
type | number of downloads | Individual items downloaded (where applicable) |
Total downloads from project | 346 | |
Document downloads | 9 | Fucaia complete matrix (9 downloads); |
Project downloads | 310 | |
Matrix downloads | 27 | Fucaia (27 downloads); |