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Article: The earliest baleen whale from the Mediterranean: large-scale implications of an early Miocene thalassotherian mysticete from Piedmont, Italy

Papers in Palaeontology - Volume 7 Issue 1 - Cover
Publication: Papers in Palaeontology
Volume: 7
Part: 2
Publication Date: May 2021
Page(s): 1147 1166
Author(s): Michelangelo Bisconti, Piero Damarco, Selina Mao, Marco Pavia, and Giorgio Carnevale
DOI: 10.1002/spp2.1336
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How to Cite

BISCONTI, M., DAMARCO, P., MAO, S., PAVIA, M., CARNEVALE, G. 2021. . Papers in Palaeontology, 7, 2, 1147-1166. DOI: /doi/10.1002/spp2.1336

Author Information

  • Michelangelo Bisconti - Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra Università degli Studi di Torino via Valperga Caluso 35 57100 Torino Italy
  • Michelangelo Bisconti - San Diego Natural History Museum 1788 El Prado San Diego CA 92101 USA
  • Piero Damarco - Museo Paleontologico Territoriale Astigiano Corso Vittorio Alfieri 381 14100 Asti Italy
  • Selina Mao - Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra Università degli Studi di Torino via Valperga Caluso 35 57100 Torino Italy
  • Marco Pavia - Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra Università degli Studi di Torino via Valperga Caluso 35 57100 Torino Italy
  • Giorgio Carnevale - Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra Università degli Studi di Torino via Valperga Caluso 35 57100 Torino Italy

Publication History

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    Abstract

    The discovery of an early Miocene chaeomysticete from the Pietra da Cantoni Group in Piedmont (north-western Italy) allowed for the establishment of Atlanticetus lavei gen. et sp. nov. The new species is represented by a partial skeleton including the periotic and tympanic bullae and has an anatomical resemblance to Atlanticetus patulus (comb. nov.) from the western North Atlantic. The early Miocene age of the new specimen supports the view that it represents the oldest record of Chaeomysticeti from the Mediterranean. A new phylogenetic analysis showed that both A. patulus and A. lavei belong to a radiation of basal thalassotherian taxa. The basal thalassotherians are monophyletic to the exclusion of Cetotheriidae and Balaenopteroidea. The reconstruction of ancestral characters at selected nodes indicates that the group including Atlanticetus and living balaenopterid taxa independently evolved rostra wide at the base, an anterolateral expansion in the tympanic bulla, and a peculiar arrangement of the endocranial foramina of the periotic, exhibiting a noteworthy phenomenon of convergent evolution in feeding and hearing functions with Balaenopteridae. Palaeobiogeographical analysis shows that the North Pacific was the centre of origin of Balaenomorpha (crown mysticetes), Thalassotherii and Balaenoidea. The recurrent invasion of the Mediterranean by balaenomorph mysticetes occurred from both the North Atlantic and North Pacific.

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