Scientific Illustration

“The non-cetacean section of the composite phylogenetic hypothesis for Artiodactyla. Thickened colored bars above branches (A–C) mark optimizations of various evolutionary changes on the lineage that leads to Cetacea (see Table 1). Gray bars above branches (1–3) indicate character state changes that are interpreted as convergences between early stem whales (see Fig. 9) and mesonychians. Thick branches connect extant taxa in the tree, and thin branches represent extinct lineages. The small, inset tree delimits (in gray) the section of the overall composite topology (Fig. 7) that is shown here at a larger scale. Approximate evolutionary time-scale, in millions of years, is at the base of the figure. Relationships derived from the Artiodactyla supermatrix are based on a strict consensus of trees. Artwork is by Carl Buell.”

A phylogenetic blueprint for a modern whale. Gatesy J, Geisler JH, Chang J, Buell C, Berta A, Meredith RW, Springer MS, McGowen MR. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2012 Oct 26. pii: S1055-7903(12)00418-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2012.10.012. (pdf)

‘The phylogenetic position of Cetacea relative to other extant artiodactyls’

‘Artwork is by Carl Buell. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)’

A phylogenetic blueprint for a modern whale. Gatesy J, Geisler JH, Chang J, Buell C, Berta A, Meredith RW, Springer MS, McGowen MR. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2012 Oct 26. pii: S1055-7903(12)00418-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2012.10.012. (pdf)

anti-krist:

Basilosaurus

“Phylogeny and stratigraphic record of Mysticeti, including Janjucetus, and the evolution of feeding ecology in mysticetes. Phylogenetic relationships of Janjucetus based on strict consensus of three trees derived from parsimony analysis of 266 characters in 26 genera (some taxa pruned from tree). Cetacean skull reconstructions shown in dorsal view. Characters relevant to the evolution of feeding in mysticetes are optimized on to the tree at nodes where they appear. Taxa marked with * represent toothed mysticetes. Numbers, and numbers in parentheses, at nodes represent bootstrap and branch support values, respectively. Solid circles denote named clades. Solid black bars on branches represent stratigraphic range error bars of their respective clade. Ages are in millions of years, with the time-scale being linear only for Late Eocene through Oligocene. Time-scale after Gradstein et al. (2004). Abbreviations: ChM TM, Charleston Museum toothed mysticetes; C, Chaeomysticeti; M, Mysticeti”

“External similarities among the three extant river dolphins and Pontoporia. The painting shows shared characteristics including long and narrow rostrum, small eyes, and broad forelimb flippers. A poorly-developed dorsal fin characterizes Inia (top), Platanista (second from top), and Lipotes (second from bottom) but is absent in the coastal Pontoporia (bottom). Note that the painting is for comparative purposes only; the geographic ranges of these species are disjunct”

A supermatrix analysis of genomic, morphological, and paleontological data from crown Cetacea. Jonathan H Geisler, Michael R McGowen, Guang Yang and John Gatesy. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011, 11:112 doi:10.1186/1471-2148-11-112

“Strict consensus of minimum length trees derived from parsimony analysis of the morphological data with implied weighting (k = 3) and relationships among extant taxa constrained to fit the ML/Bayesian analysis of all molecular data (Figure 4A). Lineages that connect extant taxa are colored; river dolphin lineages are red, and other branches are blue. Dotted lines represent fossil lineages and lead to extinct taxa/OTUs (†)”

A supermatrix analysis of genomic, morphological, and paleontological data from crown Cetacea. Jonathan H Geisler, Michael R McGowen, Guang Yang and John Gatesy. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011, 11:112 doi:10.1186/1471-2148-11-112

museumofnaturalhistory:

cetacea size comparison

Matriarch by *odontocete

Flexor and Extensor Muscles of the fingers of a Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)

From: Some points in the Anatomy of a Great Fin-Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) by John Struthers J Anat Physiol. 1871 November; 6(Pt 1): [107]-125, 512-13.

Schematic view of the head of a 10 m long sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)

Madsen PT, Payne R, Kristiansen NU, Wahlberg M, Kerr I, Møhl B. Sperm whale sound production studied with ultrasound time/depth-recording tags. J Exp Biol. 2002 Jul;205(Pt 13):1899-906.