Miocaperea

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]

Miocaperea
Temporal range: Late Miocene
~11.608–7.246 Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Cetotheriidae
Subfamily: Neobalaeninae
Genus: †Miocaperea
Bisconti, 2012
Species

†M. pulchra Bisconti, 2012 (type)

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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