Prosqualodon australis (Cetacea: Odontoceti) from the Early Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina: Redescription and Phylogenetic Analysis

Hearing from the ocean and into the river: the evolution of the inner ear of Platanistoidea (Cetacea: Odontoceti)

“…These genera represent families that are usually recovered within this clade: Waipatiidae, Squalodelphinidae, and Platanistidae (for details on specimens used, see Table 1) (but note that some authors recovered waipatiids as stem Odontoceti; e.g., Lambert et al 2018; Bianucci et al 2020). For further details on the still-debated systematic and phylogenetic aspects of Platanistoidea, see, for example, Fordyce (1994), Lambert et al (2014), Tanaka and Fordyce (2015, 2017), Boersma and Pyenson (2016), Boersma et al (2017), Viglino et al (2018a,b, 2020), Gaetán et al (2019), and Bianucci et al (2020), as well as references therein. The sample also included representatives of two putative platanistoids, Squalodon calvertensis and Prosqualodon australis (for details on the phylogenetic position of these taxa, please see de Muizon [1994] and Gaetán et al [2019]).…”

“…For further details on the still-debated systematic and phylogenetic aspects of Platanistoidea, see, for example, Fordyce (1994), Lambert et al (2014), Tanaka and Fordyce (2015, 2017), Boersma and Pyenson (2016), Boersma et al (2017), Viglino et al (2018a,b, 2020), Gaetán et al (2019), and Bianucci et al (2020), as well as references therein. The sample also included representatives of two putative platanistoids, Squalodon calvertensis and Prosqualodon australis (for details on the phylogenetic position of these taxa, please see de Muizon [1994] and Gaetán et al [2019]).…”

“…One living riverine species, P. gangetica , warrants special attention. This species is the sole extant representative of an otherwise diverse fossil group, the Platanistoidea (sensu de Muizon 1987), whose contents and phylogenetic relationships are still debated (e.g., Fordyce and de Muizon 2001; Boersma et al 2017; Tanaka and Fordyce 2017 and references therein; Viglino et al 2018a,b, 2020; Gaetán et al 2019; Bianucci et al 2020). The earliest fossil record of this group comes from the late Oligocene, reaching a peak in diversity by the early Miocene and a marked decrease by the middle–late Miocene (e.g., de Muizon 1987; Fordyce and de Muizon 2001).…”

“…Allodelphinids are recorded in lower Miocene outcrops of the eastern and western margins of the North Pacific (Boersma and Pyenson 2016; Kimura and Barnes 2016). In Patagonia, lower Miocene outcrops (Cuitiño et al 2019) have produced two platanistoid species, the squalodelphinid Notocetus vanbenedeni and the platanistoid Aondelphis talen (Moreno 1892; Viglino et al 2018b; Viglino 2019); and two putative members of this group, Phoberodon arctirostris and Prosqualodon australis (Viglino et al 2018a; Gaetán et al 2019). Lower Miocene outcrops in Italy, France, Peru, and the United States hold other squalodelphinid taxa; and Miocene outcrops of mainly Europe and the United States record other extinct Platanistidae species (Paleobiology Database 2020; e.g., Barnes et al 2010; Lambert et al 2014; Godfrey et al 2017).…”

A natural endocast of an early Miocene odontocete and its implications in cetacean brain evolution

“… Note : 1: Bianucci et al (2018); 2: Uhen (2008); 3: Boessenecker et al (2017); 4: Albright III, Sanders, and Geisler (2018); 5: Colpaert, Bosselaers, and Lambert (2015); 6: Ichishima and Kimura (2009); 7: Tomilin (1967); 8: McCann (1975); 9: Lambert and Louwye (2006); 10: Lambert, Bianucci, and Post (2009); 11: Gaetán, Buono, and Gaetano (2019); 12: Velez‐Juarbe (2017); 13: Kimura and Hasegawa (2019); 14: Lambert, 2005a, 2005b; 15: Omura, Nishiwaki, Ichihara, and Kasuya (1962); 16: Pinedo, 1987; 17: Yamada (1954); 18: Pilleri and Gihr (1971); 19: this paper; 20: Bianucci et al (2013); 21: Doval (2007); 22: Manfrini, Bellotti, and Scaravelli (2015). Bold numbers represent data from illustrations. …”