Eodelphis kabatensis, a new name for the oldest true dolphinStenella kabatensisHorikawa, 1977 (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Delphinidae), from the upper Miocene of Japan, and the phylogeny and paleobiogeography of Delphinoidea

2014/04/16 by Mizuki Murakami, Chieko Shimada, Yoshinori Hikida +2 · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Biology #Cephalopods and Marine Biology #Cetacea #Cladistics #Evolutionary biology #Genus #Ichthyology and Marine Biology #Late Miocene #Marine animal studies overview #Paleontology #Phylogenetics #Taxon #Zoology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.816720

openalex publication_date 2014/04/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

The oldest reported fossil record of Delphinidae is from the late Miocene (11 Ma) of California. Reliable Miocene fossil delphinids, however, are few. Eodelphis kabatensis from the upper Miocene Mashike Formation (8.5-13.0 Ma), Hokkaido, northern Japan, is the oldest described Miocene delphinid including a skull. Therefore, this species is a significant clue to understanding the early evolutionary history of Delphinidae. The original taxonomic assignment of this species within the genus Stenella is questionable; thus, we propose a new combination for the species, Eodelphis kabatensis Horikawa, 1977. Eodelphis is a basal delphinid, and comprehensive morphological cladistic analysis, including molecular topological constraints, supported this taxonomic revision. Paleobiogeographic analyses based on the present morphological cladistic analysis and analysis under the molecular constraints suggest that the origin and early diversification of Delphinidae occurred in the middle Miocene Pacific Ocean or elsewhere, respectively.SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at http://www.tandfonline.com/UJVP.

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