KOGIA PUSILLA FROM THE MIDDLE PLIOCENE OF TUSCANY (ITALY) AND A PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF THE FAMILY KOGIIDAE (ODONTOCETI, CETACEA)

A partial skull of an odontocete cetacean from Middle Pliocene sediments of Monte Voltraio (Pisa Province, Tuscany, Italy) is examined. This fossil, erroneously referred to the family Ziphiidae and described in the past as holotype of the species Hyperoodon pusillus, is assigned here to the genus Kogia (family Kogiidae). The species Kogia pusilla is redescribed and compared to the living species K. breviceps and K. simus. Phylogenetically, an old separation (at least in the Lower Miocene) of Kogiidae and Physeteridae is suggested. The lack of substantiated kogiid records until the Upper Miocene is probably due to the rarity of these cetaceans. Phyletic analysis within the Kogiidae is undertaken and supposed apomorphies in the morphology and/or the extension of the supracranial basin that houses the large air sacs and the spermaceti organ are considered.&nbsp

METAXYTHERIUM MEDIUM (MAMMALIA: SIRENIA) FROM UPPER MIOCENE SEDIMENTS OF THE ARENARIA DI PONSANO FORMATION (TUSCANY, ITALY)

Records of Metaxytherium medium (Mammalia: Sirenia) from Tononian (Late Miocene) sediments from che Arenaria di Ponsano Formation (Tuscany, Italy) are described. They consist of fragmentary specimens, including several partial cranial elements representing at least three skulls, two humeri, fragments of venebrae and some incomplete ribs. The new Tuscan records confirm che wide diffusion of Metaxytherium in the Mediterranean during the Miocene. This sirenian's occurrence in the Arenaria di Ponsano sediments is in accordance with the shelf environment indicated by other fossils. The low sea bottom was at least partially covered by segrass meadows, the food source of this dugongid.&nbsp

Pojava brumbuljka iz roda Chelonibia Leach, 1817, kao inkrustra na kosti sisavca u središnjem dijelu Sredozemnog mora

Among the turtle and whale barnacles (Coronuloidea: Chelonibiidae, Coronulidae, †Emersoni-idae and Platylepadidae), the members of the chelonibiid species Chelonibia testudinaria (Linnaeus, 1758) are known as epizoic barnacles that can attach to a rather wide spectrum of substrates (pri-marily sea turtles, crabs and sirenians). At present, three living morphs of C. testudinaria have been recognised; of these, the less host-specific is the patula morph, which also displays a remarkably simple, unspecialised shell architecture. Here we report on several chelonibiid shells, referred to the patula morph of C. testudinaria, encrusting a cetacean scapula collected from the floor of the Adriatic Sea facing Salento (Apulia Region, southeastern Italy) and tentatively referred to Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821). This is one of the few records worldwide of a coronuloid barnacle from an inanimate substrate, as well as the second as an encruster on mammalian bone. Such an unusual occurrence is then briefly discussed in the broader framework of the coronuloid commensalism and substrate habits.Među kornjačama i kitovima (Coronuloidea: Chelonibiidae, Coronulidae, † Emersoniidae i Platylepadidae), pripadnici vrste Chelonibia testudinaria (Linnaeus, 1758) poznati su kao epizoični brumbuljci koji se mogu pričvrstiti na prilično širok spektar podloga (prvenstveno na kornjače, rakove i velike vodene sisavce koji se hrane biljkama iz reda Sirenia). Trenutno su prepoznata tri živa morfija C. testudinaria; od njih, manje specifična za domaćina je morph patula, koja također prikazuje izuzetno jednostavnu, nespecijaliziranu arhitekturu ljuske. U ovom radu izvještavamo o nekoliko ljuski helonibiida, koje se odnose na morfe patule C. tes-tudinaria, koja inkrustira lopaticu kitova sakupljenu s dna Jadranskog mora prema Salentu (regija Apulia, jugoistočna Italija) i okvirno upućenu na Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821). Ovo je jedan od rijetkih zapisa u svijetu o brumbuljku iz nežive podloge, a i kao drugi slučaj inkrustriranja na kosti sisavca. Takva neobična pojava potom se ukratko raspravlja u širem kontekstu komensalizma brumbuljaka i supstrata staništa

I cetacei fossili nei musei italiani - Fossil cetaceans in Italian museums

The collections of fossil cetaceans, one of the most important heritages of the Italian scientific museums, are the result of discoveries and acquisitions that have accumulated over the years, since 1700 to the present day. Almost all of the fossils are from Mio-Pliocene (about 23 to 2.5 million years ago) marine sediments out cropping in Italy. The Italian Peninsula, in fact, has one of the world's highest concentrations of fossil cetaceans. The frequency of finds is exceptionally high in some regions, especially Piedmont, Tuscany and Emilia Romagna, or in restricted areas with particularly favourable conditions of preservation, such as near Belluno, Lecce and Ragusa. The Museums where these fossils are kept are often located close to the areas of discovery and frequently the collections are the result of a single person activity, such as Giovanni Capellini in Bologna, Giorgio Dal Piaz in Padua or, in more recent times, Angelo Varola in Lecce and Raffaele Quarantelli in Salsomaggiore Terme. In the museums of the universities of Padua and Bologna the original collections by Dal Piaz and Capellini respectively are still exposed. In other museums the fossil cetaceans are exposed in recent exhibitions, sometimes including three-dimensional reconstructions (e.g., in the natural history museum of Pisa University)

MIDDLE PLIOCENE CETACEANS FROM MONTE VOLTRAIO (TUSCANY, ITALY). BIOSTRATIGRAPHICAL, PALEOECOLOGICAL AND PALEOCLIMATIC OBSERVATIONS

The historic collection of fossil odontocetes (Cetacea) from Monte Voltraio, near Volterra (Tuscany, Italy) has been examined and lithostratigraphical and biostratigraphical investigations on the find locality have been carried out. The Monte Voltraio outcrop is referred to the Middle Pliocene, in particular to Globorotalia aemiliana and Discoaster tamalis zones. The odontocete remains are assigned to the families Kogiidae (Kogia pusilla) and Delphinidae (Globicephala? etruriae and two indeterminate specimens which might belong to Hemisyntrachelus and Stenella giulii). The Middle Pliocene cetacean fauna from the Mediterranean basin (Monte Voltraio and Rio Stramonte associations) includes extinct taxa or extant taxa no longer represented in this basin. The disappearance of these taxa may be linked with the Pliocene and/or Quaternary climatic deteriorations (e.g. the climatic crisis at about 2.6-2.4 MA).&nbsp

JUMPING FROM TURTLES TO WHALES: A PLIOCENE FOSSIL RECORD DEPICTS AN ANCIENT DISPERSAL OF CHELONIBIA ON MYSTICETES

The barnacles included in the superfamily Coronuloidea are epizoic symbionts of various marine vertebrates (including cetaceans, sirenians, and sea turtles) and other crustaceans (crabs and horseshoe crabs). Among Coronuloidea, the so-called turtle barnacles (Chelonibiidae) are known from Paleogene times, whereas the whale barnacles (Coronulidae) likely appeared in the late Pliocene (Piacenzian). Although a derivation from the turtle barnacles (and especially from the genus Chelonibia) has been proposed, the evolutionary origin of Coronulidae remains to date obscure. In this work we reappraise a fossil record from upper Pliocene (Piacenzian) marine deposits at Casenuove (Empoli municipality, Tuscany, Italy) comprising various shells of Chelonibia testudinaria associated to a partial skeleton of a balaenid mysticete. Based on taphonomic and morpho-functional considerations, we discuss the hypothesis that the barnacles were hosted on the baleen whale, possibly on its callosities, which could have represented an analogous of the horny carapace of marine turtles. This record strongly suggests that the baleen whales can be added to the list of the possible hosts of the barnacles of the genus Chelonibia, thus hinting that the whale barnacles may have evolved from an ancient phase of dispersal of Chelonibia (or a similar ancestor) on mysticete cetaceans

A NEW RECORD OF PHYSETEROIDEA FROM THE UPPER MIOCENE OF THE PIETRA LECCESE (SOUTHERN ITALY): SYSTEMATICS, PALEOECOLOGY AND TAPHONOMY OF A FOSSIL MACRORAPTORIAL SPERM WHALE

We report on a partial skeleton of sperm whale (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Physeteroidea) from the Pietra leccese, a Miocene limestone widely exposed in the Salento Peninsula (southern Italy). This specimen was found in Tortonian strata cropping out at the Cisterna quarry, not far from the holotype of the stem physeteroid Zygophyster varolai. The presence of a deep and rectilinear groove medial to the tympanosquamosal recess of the squamosal, the bowed mandibles, and some dental features suggest that this specimen belongs to a still undescribed new genus and species of macroraptorial sperm whale that displays some affinities with the late Miocene Acrophyseter from Peru. Nevertheless, due to the incompleteness and poor preservation state of the skull, we abstain from creating a new taxon. The teeth exhibit both apical wear and deep occlusal facets, and three teeth even lost their crowns. These dental modifications suggest that the studied specimen used a raptorial feeding strategy for preying upon food items such as large-sized bony fishes or diminutive marine mammals. The bones are mostly disarticulated and broken, and some of them preserve traces hinting at the action of macro-scavengers, possibly including both sharks and bony fishes. Furthermore, the skull is pervasively encrusted by oysters, which suggests that it laid on the seafloor for a long time before being buried. This find provides new clues about the composition of the Miocene vertebrate assemblage of the Pietra leccese and indicates that various macroraptorial sperm whale species inhabited the Mediterranean Basin during the Tortonian

A kogiid sperm whale from the lower Pliocene of the Northern Apennines (Italy)

We report on a new specimen of Kogiidae from S. Andrea Bagni, a Zanclean fossiliferous site of northern Italy. • This specimen consists of a partially complete cranium, one vertebra, one fragment of rib, and one tooth. • The S. Andrea Bagni kogiid is recognized as representative of a new taxon in the subfamily Kogiinae. • Association of this specimen with teeth of deep-water squaloids provides interesting palaeoecological hints

A new archaic homodont toothed cetacean (Mammalia, Cetacea, Odontoceti) from the early Miocene of Peru

Apart from a few exceptions, extant odontocetes (toothed cetaceans) exhibit a roughly homodont dentition. The transition from basilosaurid-like double-rooted cheek teeth with accessory denticles to single-rooted conical teeth occurred during the late Oligocene-early Miocene. At that time, several clades of now extinct, homodont and predominantly long-snouted odontocetes appeared in the fossil record. Among them, members of the genera Argyrocetus Lydekker, 1893 and Macrodelphinus Wilson, 1935, from the early Miocene of the Northeast Pacific and Argentina, were tentatively attributed to the family Eurhinodelphinidae. However, due to the fragmentary state of the specimens, unambiguous apomorphies of the family could not be detected. Based on two well-preserved skulls with associated mandibular elements, discovered in early Miocene layers of the Chilcatay Formation (Pisco Basin, Peru), we report on a new genus and species of long-snouted homodont odontocete, Chilcacetus cavirhinus n. gen., n. sp. Characterized by, among others, the presence of alveoli on the anterior premaxillary portion of the rostrum, the lack of a lateral groove on the rostrum, anterodorsally elevated nasals, a possibly autapomorphic cavity between nasals and mesethmoid in the posterior wall of the bony nares, a high temporal fossa, and the absence of ankylosis along the mandibular symphysis, C. cavirhinus n. gen., n. sp. does not fit in any of the known odontocete families, but shares several morphological features with Argyrocetus spp. and Macrodelphinus. Our phylogenetic analysis, based on 77 characters for 35 odontocete taxa, suggests the existence of an early Miocene Eastern Pacific long-snouted homodont odontocete clade (with an hypothetical South Atlantic member, the poorly known Argyrocetus patagonicus Lydekker, 1893), distinct from the only superficially similar eoplatanistids and eurhinodelphinids. Furthermore, our consensus tree indicates an early branching of this new clade compared to other homodont odontocete lineages. Unfortunately, the results of the cladistic analysis presented here are not well supported; a reappraisal of Argyrocetus and Macrodelphinus is needed to more clearly define the new clade and bolster its phylogentic position

First record of Monodontidae (Cetacea, Odontoceti) in the Mediterranean Basin from the Pliocene sands of Arcille (Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy)

• MSNUP I17602 represents one of the few monodontid skull of early Pliocene age worldwide. • This discovery testifies the presence of a monodontid taxon in the Mediterranean Basin. • The fossil skull shares several characters with the skull of both extant monodontid genera. • Past monodontid species seems to have been adapted to subtropical climate conditions