Pinniped turnover in the South Pacific Ocean: new evidence from the Plio-Pleistocene of the Atacama Desert, Chile

Valenzuela‐Toro, Ana M.; Gutstein, Carolina S.; Varas-Malca, Rafael M.; Suárez, Mario E.; Pyenson, Nicholas D.

doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.710282

Cited by 79 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Herpetocetus was formerly considered to become extinct along with many of the other members of this strange assemblage at the close of the Pliocene, as the majority of Pleistocene marine mammal records represent extant genera (Deméré et al, 2003;Boessenecker, 2011b;Valenzuela-Toro et al, 2013). Major faunal changes in marine mammals appear to occur in the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene interval and thus predate the widespread megafaunal extinctions (45-9 Ka) at the close of the Pleistocene and early Holocene (Barnosky et al, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Little research has focused on Plio-Pleistocene patterns of faunal overturn in marine mammals, and because of the low number of Pleistocene marine-mammal localities (in comparison to older strata), most aspects of faunal change need to be inferred based on differences between the modern fauna and that of the Pliocene (Fordyce, 2009;Boessenecker 2011b;Valenzuela-Toro et al, 2013). Pliocene marine mammal assemblages in particular have been previously identified as comprising an eclectic mix of species with seemingly bizarre adaptations, relatives of modern species with unexpected geographic distributions, and early representatives of extant genera (Whitmore, 1994;Oishi and Hasegawa, 1995b;Fordyce et al, 2002;Fitzgerald, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is unclear at present what fostered the persistence of Herpetocetus along with members of the modern marine mammal fauna, and better understanding of its feeding ecology is necessary as changes in continental shelf area caused by high-amplitude changes in sea level may have influenced the ecology and abundance of resources for mysticetes and other marine mammals during the past two million years (Pyenson and Lindberg, 2011). Further discoveries of Pleistocene marine mammals are necessary to improve our understanding of marine mammal extinctions ultimately leading to the current faunal configuration (Boessenecker, 2011b;Valenzuela-Toro et al, 2013), as well as to establish a 'deep time' context for interpreting broad ecological changes which currently affect modern marine mammals (Harnik et al, 2012).…”

Section: Although Extinctions Among Invertebrates and Some Vertebratementioning

confidence: 99%

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Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae)

Boessenecker

2013

Naturwissenschaften

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Pliocene baleen whale assemblages are characterized by a mix of early records of extant mysticetes, extinct genera within modern families, and late surviving members of the extinct family Cetotheriidae. Although Pleistocene baleen whales are poorly known, thus far they include only fossils of extant genera, indicating late Pliocene extinctions of numerous mysticetes alongside other marine mammals. Here, a new fossil of the late Neogene cetotheriid mysticete Herpetocetus is reported from the Lower to Middle Pleistocene Falor Formation of Northern California. This find demonstrates that at least one archaic mysticete survived well into the Quaternary Period, indicating a recent loss of a unique niche and a more complex pattern of Plio-Pleistocene faunal overturn for marine mammals than has been previously acknowledged. This discovery also lends indirect support to the hypothesis that the pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata) is an extant cetotheriid, as it documents another cetotheriid nearly surviving to modern times.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Although Extinctions Among Invertebrates and Some Vertebratementioning

confidence: 99%

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Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae)

Boessenecker

2013

Naturwissenschaften

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“…Discoveries from the Mio‐Pliocene of Chile (Valenzuela‐Toro et al . , ) have demonstrated how and when southern hemisphere pinniped communities evolved their modern distributions, although many questions remain about the timing and mechanisms underlying these changes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A new dwarf seal from the late Neogene of South America and the evolution of pinnipeds in the southern hemisphere

Valenzuela‐Toro

Pyenson

Suárez

2015

Papers in Palaeontology

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Along the south‐western coast of South America, three genera of fossil phocids (true seals) have been formally described from the late Neogene: Acrophoca and Piscophoca from Chile and Peru, and, more recently, Hadrokirus from Peru, which all represent medium‐ to large‐sized phocids. Here, we report the discovery of Australophoca changorum gen. et sp. nov., a diminutive phocid from the late Miocene of the Bahía Inglesa Formation (northern Chile) and Pisco Formation (southern Peru), comparable in size with the smallest species of modern phocids. This taxon is based on diagnostic postcranial material, including a humerus that has an elongated deltopectoral crest but lacks an entepicondylar foramen; a femur with a subtrochanteric fossa, among other characters; in combination with a relatively small body size. All these features together distinguish A. changorum from all other reported pinnipeds. This new taxon not only increases the taxonomic and morphological diversity of phocids of the late Neogene of the eastern South Pacific Ocean, but it also provides new insights about the evolutionary history of fossil pinniped assemblages in South America and, broadly, in the southern hemisphere.

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“…Rivadeneira & Marquet (2007) suggested that the diversity in the composition of mollusk species decreased during the Miocene and Pliocene along the South American Pacifi c coast. A similar tendency in decreasing diversity was shown with the extinction of marine mammals (Valenzuela-Toro et al, 2013), and sea birds (Chávez et al, 2007). The extinction of several macro-vertebrates may refl ect the macro-evolutionary dynamics of those taxa in the temperate Pacifi c coast of South America.…”

Section: Isurus Rafi Nesque 1810mentioning

confidence: 53%

Late Neogene Elasmobranch Fauna From The Coquimbo Formation, Chile

Staig¹,

Hernández²,

López³

et al. 2015

Rev. bras. paleontol.

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− Neogene marine sediments from Chilean geological formations contain a diverse marine fossil fauna. In Chile, the "Norte Chico" (27°S to 32°S) is composed of two important sedimentary marine deposits, the Bahía Inglesa and Coquimbo formations. Diverse vertebrate taxa including fi sh, birds, mammals and abundant chondrichthyans have been described from Bahía Inglesa Formation. However, the vertebrate fauna from Coquimbo Formation has been poorly documented. Based upon fi eld trips and the analysis of collections from the Coquimbo Formation, the elasmobranch fossil fauna is composed of at least nine taxa, two of which are extinct (Carcharocles megalodon and Carcharodon plicatilis). The rest of the taxa are related with living elasmobranch species that are inhabitants of the Eastern Pacifi c Ocean and Tropical America coast.

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Pinniped turnover in the South Pacific Ocean: new evidence from the Plio-Pleistocene of the Atacama Desert, Chile

Cited by 79 publications

References 45 publications

Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae)

Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae)

A new dwarf seal from the late Neogene of South America and the evolution of pinnipeds in the southern hemisphere

Late Neogene Elasmobranch Fauna From The Coquimbo Formation, Chile

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