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Disparate Heterochronic Processes in Baleen Whale Evolution

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Abstract

Skulls of living baleen whales show distinctive patterns of heterochronic ontogenetic change with implications for mysticete evolution. Here, three baleen whale species are analysed and considered in a heterochronic context. Landmarks show that, during ontogeny, skull morphology changes significantly in the rorqual Balaenoptera borealis and humpback Megaptera novaeangliae (both Balaenopteridae), while the pygmy right whale Caperea marginata (Cetotheriidae: Neobalaeninae) retains an overall juvenile morphology from foetus to adult. Geometric morphometric analyses show that foetal and adult C. marginata are similar, whereas the balaenopterids are more disparate: foetal M. novaeangliae and B. borealis appear in one group, and adult M. novaeangliae and B. borealis are grouped closely. Heterochrony involves paedomorphosis for Caperea, and peramorphosis for the balaenopterids. Heterochrony might cause limited or released developmental constraints, leading to low taxonomic diversity in the single surviving species of neobalaenine, and higher diversity amongst balaenopterids.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Kenneth McNamara, Anders Galatius and Oliver Hampe for reviewing the manuscript; Anton van Helden, Tadasu Yamada, Naoki Kohno, Erich Fitzgerald and Karen Roberts for access to collections, allowing photography and discussion during Tsai’s and/or Fordyce’s visits; Robert Boessenecker and Yoshihiro Tanaka for earlier review and comments; Gabriel Aguirre and Felix Marx for discussion; Robert Boessenecker and Felix Marx for providing photographs; Alexander Werth and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments. Erich Fitzgerald and Karen Roberts kindly accommodated Tsai in Melbourne. This study is part of Tsai’s PhD thesis, supported by a University of Otago Postgraduate Scholarship.

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  1. Department of Geology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Cheng-Hsiu Tsai & R. Ewan Fordyce

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  1. Cheng-Hsiu Tsai
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Correspondence to Cheng-Hsiu Tsai.

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Tsai, CH., Fordyce, R.E. Disparate Heterochronic Processes in Baleen Whale Evolution. Evol Biol 41, 299–307 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-014-9269-4

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