No deep diving: evidence of predation on epipelagic fish for a stem beaked whale from the Late Miocene of Peru.
Although modern beaked whales (Ziphiidae) are known to be highly specialized toothed whales that predominantly feed at great depths upon benthic and benthopelagic prey, only limited palaeontological data document this major ecological shift. We report on a ziphiid-fish assemblage from the Late Miocene of Peru that we interpret as the first direct evidence of a predator-prey relationship between a ziphiid and epipelagic fish. Preserved in a dolomite concretion, a skeleton of the stem ziphiid Messapicetus gregarius was discovered together with numerous skeletons of a clupeiform fish closely related to the epipelagic extant Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax). Based on the position of fish individuals along the head and chest regions of the ziphiid, the lack of digestion marks on fish remains and the homogeneous size of individuals, we propose that this assemblage results from the death of the whale (possibly via toxin poisoning) shortly after the capture of prey from a single school. Together with morphological data and the frequent discovery of fossil crown ziphiids in deep-sea deposits, this exceptional record supports the hypothesis that only more derived ziphiids were regular deep divers and that the extinction of epipelagic forms may coincide with the radiation of true dolphins.
D.O. Terre et Histoire de la Vie, Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, 1000 Brussels, Belgium olivier.lambert@naturalsciences.be.
Olivier
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0740-5791
O
Lambert
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy Dottorato Regionale in Scienze della Terra Pegaso, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
Alberto
A
Collareta
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
Walter
W
Landini
Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam, 3015 Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Klaas
K
Post
Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Natural History and Palaeontology, the Museum of Southern Jutland, 6510 Gram, Denmark.
Benjamin
B
Ramassamy
Scuola di Scienze e Tecnologie, Università di Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy.
Claudio
C
Di Celma
Departamento de Paleontologia de Vertebrados, Museo de Historia Natural-UNMSM, Lima 14, Peru.
Mario
M
Urbina
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
Giovanni
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7105-0863
G
Bianucci
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004242:Diving; D005399:Fishes / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005580:Fossils; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D014907:Whales / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology
Odontoceti; Sardinops; Ziphiidae; feeding; fossil; pacific sardine