Miocaperea
Temporal range: Late Miocene
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Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Cetotheriidae
Subfamily: Neobalaeninae
Genus: †Miocaperea
Bisconti, 2012
Species

†M. pulchra Bisconti, 2012 (type)

Miocaperea is an extinct genus of pygmy right whale from the Late Miocene Pisco Formation of Peru.[1] Its type species is Miocaperea pulchra.[2]

Evolution and significance

The discovery of Miocaperea is significant, because neobalaenines were previously unknown in the fossil record, except for an isolated petrosal (ear bone) from late Miocene-aged deposits in Australia.[3] A previous study placed the divergence date of Neobalaeninae from other mysticetes at about 23 million years,[4] and the age of Miocaperea lends credence to the notion of an origin for Neobalaeninae deep in the early Miocene.

References

  1. ↑ Miocaperea at Fossilworks.org
  2. ↑ Bisconti, M. 2012. Comparative osteology and phylogenetic relationships of Miocaperea pulchra, the first fossil pygmy right whale genus and species (Cetacea, Mysticeti, Neobalaenidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 166: 876-911.
  3. ↑ Fitzgerald, E.M.G. 2012. Possible neobalaenid from the Miocene of Australia implies a long evolutionary history for the pygmy right whale Caperea marginata (Cetacea, Mysticeti). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32:976-980.
  4. ↑ Sasaki T, Nikaido M, Hamilton H et al. (2005) Mitochondrial phylogenetics and evolution of mysticete whales. Systematic Biology 54(1): 77–90.
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