New Paratethyan dwarf baleen whales mark the origin of cetotheres.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Family Cetotheriidae sensu stricto and several closely related taxa comprise the Cetotherioidea and represent a lineage of Neogene baleen whales that includes the smallest edentulous baleen whales in Earth history. Most of known cetotheriids came from the Late Miocene to Quaternary, and the earliest records from the latest Middle Miocene. The Paratethys region shows a great diversity of Middle to Late Miocene cetotheriids. That includes nominative taxon of the family, Cetotherium rathkii, and this suggests that the earliest cetotheriids may have lived in that region.

Materials and methods

Here, Ciuciulea davidi, a new genus and species from the Middle Miocene of southeastern Europe, is described as the chronologically earliest and earliest div

SUBMITTER: Gol'din P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6193469 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature