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: 44259
- Matrix downloads: 29
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 | 1 ![]() |
Project views 
type | number of views | Individual items viewed (where applicable) |
Total project views | 44259 | |
Project overview | 3637 | |
Matrix views | 2312 | Matrix landing page (2053 views); Fucaia (259 views); |
Documents list | 1593 | |
Media views | 31273 | Media search (4163 views); M390797 (543 views); M390787 (630 views); M390819 (500 views); M390829 (497 views); M390786 (502 views); M390836 (466 views); M390790 (577 views); M390810 (511 views); M390830 (459 views); M390806 (535 views); M390834 (464 views); M390825 (476 views); M390818 (538 views); M390816 (553 views); M390833 (469 views); M390813 (523 views); M390793 (635 views); M390832 (449 views); M390823 (499 views); M390831 (467 views); M390788 (574 views); M390792 (528 views); M390812 (537 views); M390799 (547 views); M390822 (583 views); M390814 (634 views); M390804 (489 views); M390824 (518 views); M390794 (528 views); M390821 (518 views); M390802 (521 views); M390827 (484 views); M390820 (531 views); M390811 (526 views); M390835 (462 views); M395328 (467 views); M390795 (518 views); M390796 (519 views); M390826 (501 views); M390789 (512 views); M390800 (547 views); M390808 (533 views); M390807 (543 views); M390798 (493 views); M390815 (512 views); M390791 (579 views); M390809 (531 views); M390803 (514 views); M390817 (531 views); M390805 (544 views); M390828 (455 views); M390801 (538 views); |
Taxon list | 2161 | |
Specimen list | 2234 | |
Bibliography | 1049 |
Project downloads 
type | number of downloads | Individual items downloaded (where applicable) |
Total downloads from project | 349 | |
Document downloads | 9 | Fucaia complete matrix (9 downloads); |
Project downloads | 311 | |
Matrix downloads | 29 | Fucaia (29 downloads); |