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Protororqualus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Pliocene, {{fossil range|3.6-2.588}}

| image = Protororqualus cuvieri.JPG

| image_caption = Skeleton

| taxon = Protororqualus

| authority = {{Harvnb|Bisconti|2007}}

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

†P. cuverii [originally Balaena] (type)
{{Harvnb|Fischer|1829}}

}}

Protororqualus is a genus of extinct rorqual from the late Pliocene (Piacenzian, {{Mya|3.6|2.6|Ma}}) of Mount Pulgnasco, Italy ({{Coord|45.1|9.7|display=inline|scale:500000}}: paleocoordinates {{Coord|45.0|9.6|display=inline}}).{{Cite web

| title = Monte Pulgnasco (Pliocene of Italy) |website= Paleobiology Database

| url = http://paleobiodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=basicCollectionSearch&collection_no=66598}}

The analysis made by {{Harvnb|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.{{Harvnb|Bisconti|2009|p=154}}

Taxonomic history

The type species, Protorqualus cuvierii, was originally described in 1829 as a species of Balaena,{{Harvnb|Fischer|1829}} but later transferred to the Belgian genus Plesiocetus.{{Harvnb|Van Beneden|1875}}; {{Harvnb|Van Beneden|Gervais|1868}} Following synonymy of Plesiocetus with Balaenoptera, B. cuvieri was considered a species of Balaenoptera,{{Harvnb|Kellogg|1928}}; {{Harvnb|Kellogg|1931}}; {{Harvnb|Deméré|1986}}; {{Harvnb|Deméré|Berta|McGowen|2005}} although some authors treated it as a species of Cetotherium.{{Harvnb|Cuscani Politi|1961}} Later work, however, showed that the Mount Pulgnasco skeleton was generically distinct from other fossil and extant rorquals to warrant its own genus.{{Harvnb|Bisconti|2007}}

References

= Notes =

{{Reflist}}

= Sources =

{{Refbegin}}

  • {{Cite journal

| last = Bisconti | first = M.

| title = Taxonomic revision and phylogenetic relationships of the rorqual-like mysticete from the Pliocene of Mount Pulgnasco, northern Italy (Mammalia, Cetacea, Mysticeti)

| year = 2007 | journal = Palaeontographica Italica | volume = 91 | pages = 85–108

}}

  • {{cite web |title=M. Bisconti 2007 |website=The Paleobiology Database |url=http://paleobiodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=displayReference&reference_no=26194}}
  • {{Cite journal

| last = Bisconti | first = M.

| title = Taxonomy and evolution of the Italian Pliocene Mysticeti (Mammalia, Cetacea): a state of the art

| year = 2009 | journal = Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana | volume = 48 | issue = 2 | pages = 147–156

| url = https://www.paleoitalia.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/09-BiscontiLow.pdf

}}

  • {{Cite journal

| last = Cuscani Politi | first = P.

| title = Ancora una nuova specie di Balaenula pliocenica con considerazioni introducttive su alcuni misticeti dei nostri musei

| year = 1961 | journal = Accademia dei Fisiocritici di Siena. Sezione Agraria | volume = 8 | pages = 3–31

}}

  • {{cite web |title=P. Cuscani Politi 1961 |website=The Paleobiology Database |url=http://paleobiodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=displayReference&reference_no=29298}}
  • {{Cite journal

| last = Deméré | first = T.

| title = The fossil whale, Balaenoptera davidsonii (Cope 1872), with a review of other Neogene species of Balaenoptera (Cetacea: Mysticeti)

| year = 1986 | journal = Marine Mammal Science | volume = 2 | issue = 4 | pages = 277–298

| doi = 10.1111/j.1748-7692.1986.tb00136.x | bibcode = 1986MMamS...2..277D

}}

  • {{cite web |title=T. A. Deméré 1986 |website=The Paleobiology Database |url=http://paleobiodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=displayReference&reference_no=15042}}
  • {{Cite journal

| last1 = Deméré | first1 = T.

| last2 = Berta | first2 = A.

| last3 = McGowen | first3 = M. R.

| title = The taxonomic and evolutionary history of modern balaenopteroid mysticetes

| year = 2005 | journal = Journal of Mammalian Evolution | volume = 12 | issue = 1/2 | pages = 99–143

| doi = 10.1007/s10914-005-6944-3 | s2cid = 90231

}}

  • {{cite web |title=T. A. Deméré et al. 2005 |website=The Paleobiology Database |url=http://paleobiodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=displayReference&reference_no=15521}}
  • {{Cite book

| last = Fischer | first = J. B.

| year = 1829 | title = Synopsis Mammalium | pages = 1–752 | publisher = Stuttgardtiae, sumtibus J.G. Cottae

| language = la

| url = https://archive.org/stream/synopsismammali00fiscgoog#page/n570/mode/2up

}}

  • {{cite web |title=J. B. Fischer 1829 |website=The Paleobiology Database |url=http://paleobiodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=displayReference&reference_no=18166}}
  • {{Cite journal

| last = Gray | first = J. E. | author-link = John Edward Gray

| title = Notes on the Whalebone-Whales; with a Synopsis of the Species

| year = 1864 | journal = The Annals and Magazine of Natural History | volume = 14 | issue = 83 | pages = 345–353

| url = https://archive.org/stream/annalsmagazineof3141864lond#page/344/mode/2up

| doi = 10.1080/00222936408681724 }}

  • {{Cite journal

| last = Kellogg | first = R. | author-link = Remington Kellogg

| title = The History of Whales-Their Adaptation to Life in the Water (Concluded)

| year = 1928 | journal = The Quarterly Review of Biology | volume = 3 | issue = 2 | pages = 174–208

| jstor = 2808185

| doi=10.1086/394300| s2cid = 85354593 }}

  • {{cite web |title=R. Kellogg 1928 |website=The Paleobiology Database |url=http://paleobiodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=displayReference&reference_no=12599}}
  • {{Cite journal

| last = Kellogg | first = R.

| title = Pelagic mammals of the Temblor Formation of the Kern River region, California

| year = 1931 | journal = Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences | volume = 19 | issue = 12 | pages = 217–397

| url = https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3148601#page/324/mode/2up

}}

  • {{cite web |title=R. Kellogg 1931 |website=The Paleobiology Database |url=http://paleobiodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=displayReference&reference_no=12162}}
  • {{Cite journal

| last = Van Beneden | first = P. J. | author-link = Pierre-Joseph van Beneden

| title = Le squelette de la Baleine fossile du Musée de Milan

| year = 1875 | journal = Bulletins de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique | series = 2nd | volume = 40 | issue = 12 | pages = 736–758

| url = https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/28486#page/782/mode/2up

}}

  • {{cite web |title=P. J. Van Beneden 1875 |website=The Paleobiology Database |url=http://paleobiodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=displayReference&reference_no=12817}}
  • {{Cite book

| last1 = Van Beneden | first1 = P. J.

| last2 = Gervais | first2 = P. | author2-link = Paul Gervais

| title = 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

| year = 1868 | location = Paris | publisher = A. Bertrand

| url = https://archive.org/stream/ostographiedes00ben#page/290/mode/2up

| doi = 10.5962/bhl.title.9521 }}

  • {{cite web |title=P. J. Van Beneden and P. Gervais 1868 |website=Fossilworks |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/displayRefResults?reference_no=13984}}

{{Refend}}

{{Mysticeti Genera|M.|state=collapsed}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1120832}}

Category:Rorquals

Category:Pliocene cetaceans

Category:Pliocene mammals of Europe

Category:Fossil taxa described in 2007

Category:Prehistoric cetacean genera

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