First records of extinct kentriodontid and squalodelphinid dolphins from the Upper Marine Molasse (Burdigalian age) of Switzerland and a reappraisal of the Swiss cetacean fauna

2022/05/16 by Gabriel Aguirre‐Fernández, Jürg Jost, Sarah Hilfiker · 1 citation
Environmental Science · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Marine animal studies overview #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Ichthyology and Marine Biology

paper · pdf · doi:10.7717/peerj.13251

openalex publication_date 2022/05/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The Swiss Upper Marine Molasse (OMM) documents a transgression event dated to around 21 to 17 million years in which dolphin and other vertebrate remains have been reported. We revised the whole cetacean (whales and dolphins) OMM assemblage available in main collections, focusing on the identification and interpretation of periotics (bone that contains the inner ear). Periotics are rare, but they provide the richest taxonomic information in the sample and hint to environmental associations. Micro-computerized tomography allowed the reconstruction of bony labyrinths for comparisons and environmental interpretations. Three families are represented by periotics: Kentriodontidae, Squalodelphinidae and Physeteridae. The cetacean taxonomic composition of the Swiss OMM reinforces biogeographical patterns reported for the Mediterranean and Paratethys during the Burdigalian at a regional scale and the Calvert cetacean fauna of the northwest Atlantic at oceanic scale.

Citations

• Predation by killer whales (Orcinus orca) and the evolution of whistle loss and narrow‐band high frequency clicks in odontocetes
• Radiation of Extant Cetaceans Driven by Restructuring of the Oceans
• The Origin of High-Frequency Hearing in Whales
• A new kentriodontid (Cetacea: Odontoceti) from the early to middle Miocene of the western North Pacific and a revision of kentriodontid phylogeny
• Hearing from the ocean and into the river: the evolution of the inner ear of Platanistoidea (Cetacea: Odontoceti)

Cited by

• 2022 in paleomammalogy [wikipedia]

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