Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Fahlke JM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3167538 | biostudies-other | 2011 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Fahlke Julia M JM Gingerich Philip D PD Welsh Robert C RC Wood Aaron R AR
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20110822 35
Eocene archaeocete whales gave rise to all modern toothed and baleen whales (Odontoceti and Mysticeti) during or near the Eocene-Oligocene transition. Odontocetes have asymmetrical skulls, with asymmetry linked to high-frequency sound production and echolocation. Mysticetes are generally assumed to have symmetrical skulls and lack high-frequency hearing. Here we show that protocetid and basilosaurid archaeocete skulls are distinctly and directionally asymmetrical. Archaeocete asymmetry involves ...[more]