Protororqualus

Protororqualus is a genus of extinct rorqual from the late Pliocene (Piacenzian, 3.6 to 2.6 Ma) of Mount Pulgnasco, Italy (45.1°N 9.7°E: paleocoordinates 45.0°N 9.6°E).[1]

Protororqualus Temporal range: Pliocene, 3.6-2.588 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skeleton
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Infraorder:	Cetacea
Family:	Balaenopteridae
Genus:	†Protororqualus Bisconti 2007
Species
†P. cuverii [originally Balaena] (type) Fischer 1829

The analysis made by Bisconti 2007 identified Protororqualus as a late representative of the rorquals which survived in the Mediterranean at least until the late Pliocene. This would indicate that the Mediterranean basin played a vital role in preserving primitive rorquals while more derived forms established themselves in other oceans.

Anatomy

The Mount Pulgnasco specimen represents an early rorqual that fed differently from modern species. Compared to the laterally bowed dentaries of the latter, its dentary is more straight, which should have made it impossible to perform the intermittent ram feeding seen in modern rorquals. Another primitive character is that the anterior border of the supraoccipital is triangular and pointed like in Miocene Cetotheriidae.[2]

Taxonomic history

The type species, Protorqualus cuvierii, was originally described in 1829 as a species of Balaena,[3] but later transferred to the Belgian genus Plesiocetus.[4] Following synonymy of Plesiocetus with Balaenoptera, B. cuvieri was considered a species of Balaenoptera,[5] although some authors treated it as a species of Cetotherium.[6] Later work, however, showed that the Mount Pulgnasco skeleton was generically distinct from other fossil and extant rorquals to warrant its own genus.[7]

References

Notes

1. "Monte Pulgnasco (Pliocene of Italy)". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved November 2014. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
2. Bisconti 2009, p. 154
3. Fischer 1829
4. Van Beneden 1875; Van Beneden & Gervais 1868
5. Kellogg 1928; Kellogg 1931; Deméré 1986; Deméré, Berta & McGowen 2005
6. Cuscani Politi 1961
7. Bisconti 2007

Sources

• Bisconti, M. (2007). "Taxonomic revision and phylogenetic relationships of the rorqual-like mysticete from the Pliocene of Mount Pulgnasco, northern Italy (Mammalia, Cetacea, Mysticeti)". Palaeontographica Italica. 91: 85–108. Lay summary (November 2014).
• Bisconti, M. (2009). "Taxonomy and evolution of the Italian Pliocene Mysticeti (Mammalia, Cetacea): a state of the art" (PDF). Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana. 48 (2): 147–156. Retrieved November 2014. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• Cuscani Politi, P. (1961). "Ancora una nuova specie di Balaenula pliocenica con considerazioni introducttive su alcuni misticeti dei nostri musei". Accademia dei Fisiocritici di Siena. Sezione Agraria. 8: 3–31. Lay summary (November 2014).
• Deméré, T. (1986). "The fossil whale, Balaenoptera davidsonii (Cope 1872), with a review of other Neogene species of Balaenoptera (Cetacea: Mysticeti)". Marine Mammal Science. 2 (4): 277–298. doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.1986.tb00136.x. Lay summary (November 2014).
• Deméré, T.; Berta, A.; McGowen, M. R. (2005). "The taxonomic and evolutionary history of modern balaenopteroid mysticetes". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 12 (1/2): 99–143. doi:10.1007/s10914-005-6944-3. Lay summary (November 2014).
• Fischer, J. B. (1829). Synopsis Mammalium (in Latin). pp. 1–752. Retrieved November 2014. Lay summary (November 2014). Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• Gray, J. E. (1864). "Notes on the Whalebone-Whales; with a Synopsis of the Species". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 14 (83): 345–353. doi:10.1080/00222936408681724. Retrieved October 2013. Lay summary (October 2013). Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• Kellogg, R. (1928). "The History of Whales-Their Adaptation to Life in the Water (Concluded)". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 3 (2): 174–208. doi:10.1086/394300. JSTOR 2808185. Lay summary (November 2014).
• Kellogg, R. (1931). "Pelagic mammals of the Temblor Formation of the Kern River region, California". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. 19 (12): 217–397. Retrieved November 2014. Lay summary (November 2014). Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• Van Beneden, P. J. (1875). "Le squelette de la Baleine fossile du Musée de Milan". Bulletins de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. 2nd. 40 (12): 736–758. Retrieved November 2014. Lay summary (November 2014). Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• Van Beneden, P. J.; Gervais, P. (1868). Ostéographie des cétacés vivants et fossiles, comprenant la description et l'iconographie du squelette et du système dentaire de ces animaux; ainsi que des documents relatifs à leur histoire naturelle. Paris: A. Bertrand. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.9521. Retrieved November 2013. Lay summary (November 2013). Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)