Over het archief
Het OWA, het open archief van het Waterbouwkundig Laboratorium heeft tot doel alle vrij toegankelijke onderzoeksresultaten van dit instituut in digitale vorm aan te bieden. Op die manier wil het de zichtbaarheid, verspreiding en gebruik van deze onderzoeksresultaten, alsook de wetenschappelijke communicatie maximaal bevorderen.
Dit archief wordt uitgebouwd en beheerd volgens de principes van de Open Access Movement, en het daaruit ontstane Open Archives Initiative.
Basisinformatie over ‘Open Access to scholarly information'.
Like phoenix from the ashes: how modern baleen whales arose from a fossil "dark age"
Marx, F.G.; Fitzgerald, E.M.G.; Fordyce, R.E. (2019). Like phoenix from the ashes: how modern baleen whales arose from a fossil "dark age". Acta Palaeontol. Pol. 64(2): 231-238. https://dx.doi.org/10.4202/app.00575.2018
In: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Paleobiologii: Warszawa. ISSN 0567-7920; e-ISSN 1732-2421, meer
|   |
| Trefwoorden |
Mammalia [WoRMS]; Mysticeti Flower, 1864 [WoRMS]
Marien/Kust |
| Author keywords |
Mammalia; Mysticeti; evolution; Oligocene; Miocene; Zealandia; Australia |
| Auteurs | | Top |
- Marx, F.G., meer
- Fitzgerald, E.M.G.
- Fordyce, R.E.
|
|
|
| Abstract |
The evolution of baleen whales (Mysticeti), the largest animals on Earth, was punctuated by a pivotal turnover event. Following their emergence around 36 million years (Ma), mysticetes diversified into a disparate range of toothed and toothless species until 23 Ma, but then nearly vanished from the global fossil record for the next five million years. Following this early Miocene “dark age”, toothless mysticetes spectacularly reappeared around 18–17 Ma, whereas toothed mysticetes had gone entirely extinct. Here, we suggest that this turnover event reflects a change in mysticete habitat occupancy. Using the well-sampled record of Australasia as a case study, we show that Oligocene pre-“dark age” mysticetes formed distinct coastal and offshore assemblages, dominated by small (2–4 m), ecologically disparate toothed species, and larger (5–6 m) toothless filter feeders, respectively. Environmental change around the Oligocene–Miocene boundary led to the decline of the endemic coastal assemblages, leaving nearshore deposits virtually devoid of mysticetes. Filter feeders persisted offshore and subsequently re-invaded coastal habitats during the mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum, thus establishing the modern, cosmopolitan mysticete fauna. |
IMIS is ontwikkeld en wordt gehost door het VLIZ.
