The Evolution of Cetaceans: Evolutionary Phylogeny, Fossil Records and Evolutionary Novelties

Jayson Garcia Abigail Larios Jacob Labios

Cetaceans
From Latin cetus = a large sea animal and Greek ketos = sea monster Uncharacteristic of the Class Mammalia due to modifications of the basic mammalian structure adaptation to transition from terrestrial to aquatic habitat

Main Groups of Cetaceansprimitive eutherian ancestors leads to rapid Isolated from

evolutionary changes Include whales, dolphins and porpoises in about 87 species, 14 families and 2 sub-orders

CLASSIFICATION

Kingdom Animalia Class Mammalia Order Cetacea Suborder Odontoceti Suborder Mysticeti

Suborder Odontoceti toothed whales with teeth for feeding and a single blowhole for respiration asymmetrical skull include more species and are smaller than the other subgroup

Suborder Mysticeti baleen whales

with baleen plates for filter feeding and to blowholes for respiration

symmetrical skull

 warm-blooded no hairs in the body uses blubber, a heavy fat layer underneath the skin, for insulating or warming of the body torpedo shaped body with no distinct neck streamlined body and horizontal end fin (flukes) for efficient swimming paddles for balancing their bodies

II

Unifying Characteristics of gases blowholes for exchange /Featuressmell poor sense of good sense of hearing for sensing vibrations underwater for echolocation
highly developed brains give birth to live and well-developed young and nourish their offspring through their mammary glands

Transition to Toothlessness
baleen plates of mysticetes evolved gradually through time
early baleen whales such as Janjucetus and Mammalodon still had fully developed enamel-covered teeth whale embryos Evolutionary also show that their distant ancestors once bore teeth. They still grow tooth buds that disappear before the Changes is born young whale
Microevolution

III

through time, proteins needed to encode enamel on teeth of whales are impaired via mutation all species of baleen whales have a different set of at least three tooth genes that mutated into pseudogenes

Possible explanation: baleen whales lost enamel independent from each other or their common ancestor lost enamel once

Evidence: fossil records show a modification in the MMP20 gene (gene involved in processing tooth proteins such as enamelin and ameloblastin) which lead to the permanent lost of teeth of baleen whales

 gradual evolution from fully terrestrial to fully marine lifestyle with corresponding adaptations (elongated bodies, webbed feet, blowholes, etc.) at various key intervals along the way

III

Evolutionary order Cetacea are believed to have evolved from Changes terrestrial hoofed mammals like cows, camels smaller
Macroevolution and and sheep Evolutionary Novelties

some 45 million years

they are a good example of adaptive radiation in mammals

Their body became streamlined; forelimbs modified into flippers; limbs lost; tail broadened horizontally all for efficient motility in water blubbers, in place of hair, for buoyancy and insulation nostrils shifted to the top of the head to create blowholes for effective respiration when they reach the surface of the water their sensory organs have been modified to adapt to the differences in the life on land and the life on sea hearing is highly developed sensory and reproductive organs have been internalized to reduce drag while swimming

 Changes in their reproductive and parental behaviors have also taken place, enabling whales to provide optimum care for their young in the cold, large ocean
Since renal urea transporters are highly conserved among mammals inhabiting terrestrial and pelagic environments, urea-based concentrating mechanism, presumably evolved to meet the demands of an arid terrestrial environment

 whales share brain cells with humans suggesting that certain cetaceans and hominids may have evolved side by side there is substantial variability between the cell structures of the cortex in humpback whales compared to toothed whales like dolphins spindle cells in the humpback cortex and in other areas of the whale brain is comparable to that of the spindle cells of hominids.

 fossil cetaceans are classified based on skeletons (other fossil parts have not yet produced biomolecules useful in molecular taxonomy)

IV

Fossil Records
teeth and, rarely, other bones (vertebrae, limb elements) have been used at times

Modes of Fossil Preservation

fossil cetaceans occur in sedimentary rocks from strata including sandstone, mudstone, limestone, greensand, and phosphorite, most of which are marine rocks now exposed on land rare fossils have been recovered from the sea floor

Center of Fossil Distribution

oldest known cetaceans from coastal and fluvial deposits in the Indo-Pakistan region of South Asia, dating to approximately 55 Ma, by Philip Gingerich Hans Thewissen found Ambolectus later in 1995
Archaeoceti Early cetacean fossils with four limbs, heterodont dentitions, and shared basicranial, facial, vertebral, and forelimb characters with modern cetaceans from Pakistan, India, Egypt and USA later separated into protocetids and basilosaurids and then dispersed Jordan, Egypt, and the southeastern United States

Rhodhocetus

Ambolectus

Pakicetus

Range in Geologic Time Scale

Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene
the early Oligocene reduction in archaeotes and first appearances of echolating and baleen-bearing cetaceans (odontocetes and mysticetes) Miocene diversification of cetaceans middle Miocene most representatives of extant families appear

increasing volume of CO2 emissions through the years Global Warming increase in temp of the waters

The Cetacean Future lower capacity of holding O2 dead zones

alterations in the migration pattern of some species of whales

decrease in the population of phytoplankton main diet of baleen whales

water pollution

11 of 9 genera of mysticetes are endangered

odontocetes are being hunted for tourism (e.g. amusement parks) insufficient conservation efforts (e.g. IWC) due to unstoppable problem in whaling After a million years

EXTINCTION!

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