Neobalaenidae

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Neobalaenidae
Temporal range: Tortonian–Recent
Caperea marginata 3.png
Pygmy right whale Caperea marginata
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Parvorder: Mysticeti
Family: Neobalaenidae
Miller, 1923
Genera

Neobalaenidae is a family of baleen whales (suborder Mysticeti) including the extant pygmy right whale. Although traditionally considered related to balaenids, recent studies by Fordyce and Marx (2013) and Ludovic Dutoit and colleagues (2023) have recovered the living pygmy right whale as a member of Cetotheriidae, making it the only extant cetotheriid. Not all authors agree with this placement.

Contents

Taxonomy

The family Neobalaenidae was long restricted to the pygmy right whale from the Southern Hemisphere due to the unusual skeletal form of the species relative to other extant mysticetes. [1] [2] [3] Until the early 2010s Neobalaenidae was unknown from the fossil record despite a study by Sasaki et al. (2005) placing the divergence date of Neobalaenidae from other living baleen whales at 23 mya. [4]

Fordyce and Marx found that the pygmy right whale formed a well-supported clade with Eschrichtiidae and Balaenopteridae based on molecular data, and that, within 'cetotheres', it was most closely related to the herpetocetines ( Herpetocetus and Nannocetus ), rendering the pygmy right whale the only living species of Cetotheriidae. [5] Around the same time, Bisconti had described the first pygmy right whale from the fossil record, Miocaperea , from the Pisco Formation of Peru. [6] Bisconti, however, found, based on morphological data, it to be more closely related to Balaenidae (the bowhead and right whales), but added that additional specimens are expected to resolve these conflicting results within a few years. [7] Cladistic analyses by Gol'din and Steeman partly agreed with Fordyce and Marx in recovering neobalaenids as closer to cetotheres than to Balaenidae, but disagreed with their recovery of the pygmy right whale as a herpetocetine, instead recovering Neobalaenidae outside Cetotheriidae. [8] [9]

Fossil record

Examples of Neobalaenidae in the fossil record include Miocaperea, a couple of indeterminate earbones from Australia (one similar to Caperea), [10] [11] and specimens from Pleistocene localities in the Northern Hemisphere. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eschrichtiidae</span> Family of mammals

Eschrichtiidae or the gray whales is a family of baleen whale with a single extant species, the gray whale, as well as three described fossil genera: Archaeschrichtius and Eschrichtioides from the Miocene and Pliocene of Italy respectively, and Gricetoides from the Pliocene of North Carolina. More recent phylogenetic studies have found this family to be invalid, with its members nesting inside the Balaenopteridae. The names of the extant genus and the family honours Danish zoologist Daniel Eschricht.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pygmy right whale</span> Species of mammal

The pygmy right whale is a species of baleen whale. It may be a member of the cetotheres, a family of baleen whales which until 2012 were thought to be extinct; C. marginata has otherwise been considered the sole member of the family Neobalaenidae and is the only member of the genus Caperea. First described by John Edward Gray in 1846, it is the smallest of the baleen whales, ranging between 6 and 6.5 metres in length and 3,000 and 3,500 kilograms in mass. Despite its name, the pygmy right whale may have more in common with the gray whale and rorquals than the bowhead and right whales.

<i>Cetotherium</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Cetotherium is an extinct genus of baleen whales from the family Cetotheriidae.

<i>Aetiocetus</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Aetiocetus is a genus of extinct basal mysticete, or baleen whale that lived 33.9 to 23.03 million years ago, in the Oligocene in the North Pacific ocean, around Japan, Mexico, and Oregon, U.S. It was first described by Douglas Emlong in 1966 and currently contains known four species, A. cotylalveus, A. polydentatus, A. tomitai, and A. weltoni. These whales are remarkable for their retention of teeth and presence of nutrient foramina, indicating that they possessed baleen. Thus, Aetiocetus represents the transition from teeth to baleen in Oligocene mysticetes. Baleen is a highly derived character, or synapomorphy, of mysticetes, and is a keratinous structure that grows from the palate, or roof of the mouth, of the whale. The presence of baleen is inferred from the fossil record in the skull of Aetiocetus. Aetiocetus is known from both sides of the Pacific Ocean: it was first documented in Oregon, United States, but it is also known from Japan and Mexico. The genus is currently constrained to the Northern hemisphere and has little value in biostratigraphic studies of the Oligocene due to its limited occurrences across the Pacific.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cetotheriidae</span> Family of mammals

Cetotheriidae is a family of baleen whales. The family is known to have existed from the Late Oligocene to the Early Pleistocene before going extinct. Although some phylogenetic studies conducted by Fordyce & Marx 2013 recovered the living pygmy right whale as a member of Cetotheriidae, making the pygmy right whale the only living cetotheriid, other authors either dispute this placement or recover Neobalaenidae as a sister group to Cetotheriidae.

<i>Parietobalaena</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Parietobalaena is an extinct genus of baleen whale, belonging to the family Pelocetidae. Fossils are found in Miocene-aged marine strata in North America, Europe, Australia and Japan.

<i>Herpetocetus</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Herpetocetus is a genus of cetotheriid mysticete in the subfamily Herpetocetinae.

Plesiocetus is a genus of extinct balaenopterids found worldwide. It has had a chequered taxonomic history, having served as a wastebasket genus for a handful of mysticete species.

Miocaperea is an extinct genus of pygmy right whale from the Late Miocene Pisco Formation of Peru. Its type species is Miocaperea pulchra.

<i>Cetotheriopsis</i> Extinct genus of cetaceans

Cetotheriopsis is a genus of extinct cetaceans of the family Cetotheriopsidae.

<i>Aglaocetus</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Aglaocetus is a genus of extinct baleen whales known from the Miocene of Patagonia, the US Eastern Seaboard, Japan and the Low Countries. It was once considered a member of Cetotheriidae along with many other putative cetotheres, but was recently recognized as representing a distinct family from true Cetotheriidae.

Nannocetus is an extinct baleen whale belonging to the family Cetotheriidae.

Metopocetus is an extinct genus of baleen whale belonging to the family Cetotheriidae. The type species is Metopocetus durinasus.

Mauicetus is a genus of extinct baleen whale from the Late Oligocene of New Zealand.

Eomysticetidae is a family of extinct mysticetes belonging to Chaeomysticeti. It is one of two families in the basal chaeomysticete clade Eomysticetoidea.

<i>Tranatocetus</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Tranatocetus is an extinct genus of mysticete from the late Miocene (Tortonian) of Jutland, Denmark. The type and only species is Tranatocetus argillarius.

Isocetus is an extinct genus of baleen whale belonging to the clade Thalassotherii. Remains have been found in middle Miocene marine deposits in Belgium.

Otradnocetus is an extinct genus of baleen whale from the middle Miocene of the Russian Caucasus.

<i>Atlanticetus</i> Extinct genus of whales

Atlanticetus is a genus of extinct baleen whales known from the Early Miocene of Italy and the US Eastern Seaboard.

References

  1. ↑ Bouetel V, de Muizon C. (2006). "The anatomy and relationships of Piscobalaena nana (Cetacea, Mysticeti), a Cetotheriidae s.s. from the early Pliocene of Peru". Geodiversitas. 28: 319–395.
  2. ↑ Steeman M.E. (2007). "Cladistic analysis and a revised classification of fossil and recent mysticetes". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 150 (4): 875–894. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00313.x .
  3. ↑ Churchill, Morgan; Berta, Annalisa; Deméré, Thomas (2012). "The systematics of right whales (Mysticeti: Balaenidae)". Marine Mammal Science. 28 (3): 497–521. doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2011.00504.x.
  4. ↑ Sasaki, Takeshi; Nikaido, Masato; Hamilton, Healy; Goto, Mutsuo; Kato, Hidehiro; Kanda, Naohisa; Pastene, Luis A.; Cao, Ying; Fordyce, R. Ewan; Hasegawa, Masami; Okada, Norihiro (2005). "Mitochondrial Phylogenetics and Evolution of Mysticete Whales". Systematic Biology. 54 (1): 77–90. doi: 10.1080/10635150590905939 . PMID   15805012.
  5. ↑ Fordyce, R. Ewan; Marx, Felix G. (2013). "The pygmy right whale Caperea marginata: the last of the cetotheres". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 280 (1753). doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.2645. PMC   3574355 . PMID   23256199.
  6. ↑ Bisconti, M. (2012). "Comparative osteology and phylogenetic relationships of Miocaperea pulchra, the first fossil pygmy right whale genus and species (Cetacea, Mysticeti, Neobalaenidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 166 (4): 876–911. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00862.x .
  7. ↑ Bisconti, Michelangelo; Lambert, Olivier; Bosselaers, Mark (2013). "Taxonomic revision of Isocetus depauwi (Mammalia, Cetacea, Mysticeti) and the phylogenetic relationships of archaic "cetothere" mysticetes". Palaeontology. 56: 95–127. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2012.01168.x .
  8. ↑ Gol'Din, Pavel; Steeman, Mette Elstrup (2015). "From problem taxa to problem solver: a new miocene family, tranatocetidae, brings perspective on baleen whale evolution". PLOS ONE. 10 (9): e0135500. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1035500G. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135500 . PMC   4558012 . PMID   26331471.
  9. ↑ Gol'din P. (2018). "New Paratethyan dwarf baleen whales mark the origin of cetotheres". PeerJ. 6: e5800. doi: 10.7717/peerj.5800 . PMC   6193469 . PMID   30356949.
  10. ↑ Fitzgerald, E.M.G. (2012). "Possible neobalaenid from the Miocene of Australia implies a long evolutionary history for the pygmy right whale Caperea marginata (Cetacea, Mysticeti)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (4): 976–980. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.669803. S2CID   83784488.
  11. ↑ Marx, Felix G.; Park, Travis; Fitzgerald, Erich M.G.; Evans, Alistair R. (2018). "A Miocene pygmy right whale fossil from Australia". PeerJ. 6: e5025. doi: 10.7717/peerj.5025 . PMC   6016540 . PMID   29942692.
  12. ↑ Tsai, C. H.; Collareta, A.; Fitzgerald EMG; Marx, F. G.; Kohno, N.; Bosselaers, M.; Insacco, G.; Reitano, A.; Catanzariti, R.; Oishi, M.; Bianucci, G. (2017). "Northern pygmy right whales highlight Quaternary marine mammal exchange". Current Biology. 27 (19): R1058–R1059. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.08.056 . PMID   29017038. S2CID   23877418.
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