Dear colleagues,
please find below the abstract and link to our recently published, open access paper on a new fossil species of rorqual from the Miocene of Peru: Marx, F.G. and Kohno, N. 2016. A new Miocene baleen whale from the Peruvian desert. Royal Society Open Science 3: 160542 Link: http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/10/160542 Abstract: The Pisco-Ica and Sacaco basins of southern Peru are renowned for their abundance of exceptionally preserved fossil cetaceans, several of which retain traces of soft tissue and occasionally even stomach contents. Previous work has mostly focused on odontocetes, with baleen whales currently being restricted to just three described taxa. Here, we report a new Late Miocene rorqual (family Balaenopteridae), *Incakujira anillodefuego* gen. et sp. nov., based on two exceptionally preserved specimens from the Pisco Formation exposed at Aguada de Lomas, Sacaco Basin, southern Peru. *Incakujira* overall closely resembles modern balaenopterids, but stands out for its unusually gracile ascending process of the maxilla, as well as a markedly twisted postglenoid process of the squamosal. The latter likely impeded lateral (omega) rotation of the mandible, in stark contrast with the highly flexible craniomandibular joint of extant lunge-feeding rorquals. Overall, *Incakujira *expands the still meagre Miocene record of balaenopterids and reveals a previously underappreciated degree of complexity in the evolution of their iconic lunge-feeding strategy. Kind regards, Felix Marx _____________________________ *Felix G. Marx* PhD Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow *Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium *Monash University, Melbourne, Australia *Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Australia Address: School of Biological Sciences, Monash University 25 Rainforest Walk, VIC 3800, Australia Tel. +61 (0)3 9905 1190 (Monash University) or +61 (0)3 8341 7733 (Museum Victoria)
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