Comparative biogeography: innovations and the rise to dominance of the North Pacific biota

Vermeij, Geerat J.

doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.2027

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…15: 20190108 basins by identifying the timing of diversification, diversity patterns, local extinctions, and faunal turnovers (e.g. [26][27][28]). Phocids nowadays found along the eastern coast of the North Pacific include the phocine Phoca vitulina, and the monachine Mirounga angustirostris, and in the central North Pacific the monachine Neomonachus schauinslandi (Hawaiian monk seals).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oldest record of monk seals from the North Pacific and biogeographic implications

Vélez‐Juarbe

Valenzuela‐Toro

2019

Biol. Lett.

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True seals (crown Phocidae) originated during the late Oligocene–early Miocene (approx. 27–20 Ma) in the North Atlantic/Mediterranean region, with later (middle Miocene, approx. 16–11 Ma) dispersal events to the South Atlantic and South Pacific. Contrasting with other pinnipeds, the fossil record of phocids from the North Pacific region is scarce and restricted to the Pleistocene. Here we present the oldest fossil record of crown phocids, monachines (monk seals), from the North Pacific region. The specimens were collected from the upper Monterey Formation in Southern California and are dated to 8.5–7.1 Ma, predating the previously oldest known record by at least 7 Ma. This record provides new insights into the early biogeographic history of phocids in the North Pacific and is consistent with a northward dispersal of monk seals (monachines), which has been recognized for other groups of marine mammals. Alternatively, this finding may correspond with a westward dispersal through the Central American Seaway of some ancestor of the Hawaiian monk seal. This record increases the taxonomic richness of the Monterey pinniped assemblage to five taxa, making it a fairly diverse fossil assemblage, but also constitutes the oldest record of sympatry among all three extant pinniped crown clades.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oldest record of monk seals from the North Pacific and biogeographic implications

Vélez‐Juarbe

Valenzuela‐Toro

2019

Biol. Lett.

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“…The origin of highly productive marine biotas in the North Pacific Ocean has been attributed to cooling events during the late Eocene and Oligocene (Vermeij, 2018; Vermeij et al, 2019), but recent molecular analyses also date the radiation of kelp forests in the North Pacific to the Eocene/Oligocene boundary (Starko et al, 2019; Vermeij et al, 2019). Here we hypothesize that the evolution and diversification of plotopterids may have been causally linked to these events.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New late Eocene and Oligocene plotopterid fossils from Washington State (USA), with a revision of “Tonsala” buchanani (Aves, Plotopteridae)

Mayr

Goedert

2021

J. Paleontol.

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We report new specimens of the Plotopteridae from Washington State (USA), an area where these flightless seabirds underwent significant diversification during the late Eocene and Oligocene. To date, five plotopterid species from western Washington have been formally named. Specimens previously assigned to Tonsala buchanani Dyke, Wang, and Habib, 2011 belong to at least two, but probably even three, different species. One of these, the large-sized “Whiskey Creek specimen” from late Eocene deposits mapped as the Makah Formation, is the oldest known plotopterid and is here tentatively assigned to ?Klallamornis clarki Mayr and Goedert, 2016. Another specimen originally referred to T. buchanani is also likely to belong to a different species and is among the most substantial records for North American plotopterids. We formally transfer T. buchanani to the taxon Klallamornis and show that the only unambiguously identified specimen of the species—the holotype—is currently poorly diagnosed from Klallamornis abyssa Mayr and Goedert, 2016, which is from coeval strata of the Pysht Formation. Although the holotype of K. abyssa is larger than that of K. buchanani, there remains a possibility that plotopterids were sexually dimorphic in size. We describe the first ungual phalanx of a plotopterid, which is referred to K. buchanani, and report previously unknown elements of the large ?K. clarki and the first records of this species from the Lincoln Creek Formation. Current data indicate that plotopterids originated in the middle or late Eocene on islands off western North America, and we hypothesize that the radiation of these birds in the North Pacific Basin may have been related to the evolution of kelp forests.

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“…Such events resulted in the evolution of a new biota that would dominate other regions including the southern hemisphere from the beginning of Neogene (Ivany et al . 2000; Gladenkov & Sinel'nikova 2009; Vermeij 2018; Vermeij et al . 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, this new biological community in the North Pacific includes the origin of one of the most important marine ecosystems for the temperate regions: the kelp forests, considered to be a relevant driver for both evolutionary processes and species diversification, including marine mammals (Domning 1989; Steneck et al . 2002; Santelices 2007; Vermeij 2018; Vermeij et al . 2018; Starko et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Palaeobiogeography of the North Pacific toothed mysticetes (Cetacea, Aetiocetidae): a key to Oligocene cetacean distributional patterns

Cisneros

Vélez‐Juarbe

2020

Palaeontology

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Biogeographical distributional patterns of cetaceans reflect dispersal events and colonization of the oceans from their ancestral area in the ancient Sea of Tethys ~53 Ma. Likewise, they reveal several vicariance events throughout the evolutionary history of this group. However, our understanding of how these processes took place and what biogeographical scenarios occurred among the different groups of cetaceans through time is limited. Consequently, this work focuses on explaining the distributional patterns of the well‐known North Pacific toothed mysticetes, Aetiocetidae, through the power of retrodiction offered by track analysis (panbiogeography) and cladistic biogeography, using the approach of evolutionary biogeography. Our results show that the distributional patterns of Aetiocetidae explain their endemism in the North Pacific, as well as indicating that their hypothetical ancestor probably colonized the Pacific from the Atlantic Ocean by a dispersal event (founder effect) via the Central American Seaway. Furthermore, their biogeographical history shows that the adaptive radiation (cladogenesis) of Aetiocetidae is result of peripatric speciation followed by sympatric speciation within a heterogeneous environment. Finally, the biogeographical framework of Aetiocetidae further supports the relevant role that the Pacific Ocean has played in the evolution of Oligocene cetaceans as a geographical area that promoted endemism, dispersal and colonization. At more local scales, environmental conditions further promoted increased diversity and disparity amongst Mysticeti.

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Comparative biogeography: innovations and the rise to dominance of the North Pacific biota

Cited by 10 publications

References 46 publications

Oldest record of monk seals from the North Pacific and biogeographic implications

Oldest record of monk seals from the North Pacific and biogeographic implications

New late Eocene and Oligocene plotopterid fossils from Washington State (USA), with a revision of “Tonsala” buchanani (Aves, Plotopteridae)

Palaeobiogeography of the North Pacific toothed mysticetes (Cetacea, Aetiocetidae): a key to Oligocene cetacean distributional patterns

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