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Introducing Coronodon havensteini - a new toothed baleen whale from South Carolina


Boesse

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Hey all,

 

On Thursday some colleagues and I published a new archaeocete-like baleen whale from the Oligocene of South Carolina. This is one of the most primitive baleen whales known, and the skull bears many primitive features in common with basilosaurid archaeocetes. We named it Coronodon havensteini - Coronodon refers to the cusps which make a crown-shape, and the species name after Mark Havenstein who collected the specimen. A life restoration I've made of the animals likely gross-looking mouth can be seen below, along with a photograph of the skull.

 

Here's some press releases:

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/beast-from-the-past-wando-river-fossil-turns-out-to/article_cd4317c0-5ce5-11e7-965a-274b18c78111.html

 

http://today.cofc.edu/2017/06/29/baleen-whale-fossil-current-biology/

 

And here's the published article: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)30704-2

 

And if you go to the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History facebook page, there's a video of me on the news last night being interviewed!

 

Edit: our collections manager uploaded the news clip to youtube:

Coronodon v copy 3.jpg

IMG_7583.JPG

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Good job ,Boesse

great that it is being published in CB.

Now our enjoyment can be immediate 

(van)Ben(eden)

I'll probably be dragged off to a maximy security facility for that horrible excuse for a pun

fmars-04-00067.pdf

lambertsen paywalled,i noticed, pity

 

 

 

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Could you provide the title and author as contextual information? Some people do not want to click on PDF links without knowing what it is. ;) 

...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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I tell you what they are: three pdf's on mysticete functional ecology and morphology

resp: frontiers in Marine Science,PLOS and zoological journal of the Linnean Society.

On the other hand,I'm a well-known Ukranian hacker

 

 

 

 

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Ahhhh...you can't be a Ukrainian hacker, doushantuo...you mis-spelled UKRAINIAN :D!  Everybody knows that it is spelled 'Українська'!

 

-Joe 

Illigitimati non carborundum

Fruitbat's PDF Library

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3 hours ago, Boesse said:

Hey all,

 

On Thursday some colleagues and I published a new archaeocete-like baleen whale from the Oligocene of South Carolina. This is one of the most primitive baleen whales known, and the skull bears many primitive features in common with basilosaurid archaeocetes. We named it Coronodon havensteini - Coronodon refers to the cusps which make a crown-shape, and the species name after Mark Havenstein who collected the specimen. A life restoration I've made of the animals likely gross-looking mouth can be seen below, along with a photograph of the skull.

 

Here's some press releases:

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/beast-from-the-past-wando-river-fossil-turns-out-to/article_cd4317c0-5ce5-11e7-965a-274b18c78111.html

 

http://today.cofc.edu/2017/06/29/baleen-whale-fossil-current-biology/

 

And here's the published article: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)30704-2

 

And if you go to the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History facebook page, there's a video of me on the news last night being interviewed!

 

Edit: our collections manager uploaded the news clip to youtube:

Coronodon v copy 3.jpg

IMG_7583.JPG

Hey Boesse,

This isnt your "genus Y" is it?

 

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Nope! Genus Y remains unnamed. I am working on it right now. Genus Y is an archaic odontocete.

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11 hours ago, doushantuo said:

I tell you what they are: three pdf's on mysticete functional ecology and morphology

resp: frontiers in Marine Science,PLOS and zoological journal of the Linnean Society.

On the other hand,I'm a well-known Ukranian hacker

 

Slight tangent here....Is your avatar a reference to you being from the Netherlands and maybe Hague? 

Its art by Bill Holland and I thought Hague since the crocodile is holding a fig leaf with a dove in its mouth. A reference to unstable and tentative peace and maybe the international criminal court and UN presence there.

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1 hour ago, doushantuo said:

Nice collateral thinking.The artist is Brad Holland of course

I confess that I realized it was Brad Holland but had to check your profile too. :dinothumb:

Amazing artwork by Brad Holland -" mind altering art"

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13 hours ago, Boesse said:

Hey all,

 

On Thursday some colleagues and I published a new archaeocete-like baleen whale from the Oligocene of South Carolina. This is one of the most primitive baleen whales known, and the skull bears many primitive features in common with basilosaurid archaeocetes. We named it Coronodon havensteini - Coronodon refers to the cusps which make a crown-shape, and the species name after Mark Havenstein who collected the specimen. A life restoration I've made of the animals likely gross-looking mouth can be seen below, along with a photograph of the skull.

 

Here's some press releases:

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/beast-from-the-past-wando-river-fossil-turns-out-to/article_cd4317c0-5ce5-11e7-965a-274b18c78111.html

 

http://today.cofc.edu/2017/06/29/baleen-whale-fossil-current-biology/

 

And here's the published article: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)30704-2

 

And if you go to the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History facebook page, there's a video of me on the news last night being interviewed!

 

Edit: our collections manager uploaded the news clip to youtube:

Coronodon v copy 3.jpg

IMG_7583.JPG

Amazing fossil, outstanding preservation and thorough science. A winning combination.

 

Thanks for sharing Bobby.

Ill follow up on the posted articles, but if it isnt there I'd love to hear the backstory about discovery and excavation.

 

Edit: Bobby talked about Mark Havenstein discovering it in the river while diving for megs in the news coverage.

Does this mean it was submerged or in the river bank?

 

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Yes, it was indeed an underwater excavation! I have dug things out of shallow creeks and between crashing waves but cannot imagine excavating something completely submerged like that.

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Those rear teeth are incredible. Looks like the perfect puncture / grab in the front and tear / shred in the back.

Don't know much about history

Don't know much biology

Don't know much about science books.........

Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World

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2 hours ago, SailingAlongToo said:

Those rear teeth are incredible. Looks like the perfect puncture / grab in the front and tear / shred in the back.

The cheek teeth do not occlude properly for that and shearing action was limited; there is minimal tooth wear on the cheek tooth cusps, indicating that mastication with cheek teeth was avoided.

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What an amazing discovery!

 

I do think though that I rather meet a great white than this whale... I don't trust that grin :blink:

Max Derème

 

"I feel an echo of the lightning each time I find a fossil. [...] That is why I am a hunter: to feel that bolt of lightning every day."

   - Mary Anning >< Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier

 

Instagram: @world_of_fossils

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