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Intervertebral and Epiphyseal Fusion in the Postnatal Ontogeny of Cetaceans and Terrestrial Mammals

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Abstract

In this paper we studied three related aspects of the ontogeny of the vertebral centrum of cetaceans and terrestrial mammals in an evolutionary context. We determined patterns of ontogenetic fusion of the vertebral epiphyses in bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) and beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas), comparing those to terrestrial mammals and Eocene cetaceans. We found that epiphyseal fusion is initiated in the neck and the sacral region of terrestrial mammals, while in recent aquatic mammals epiphyseal fusion is initiated in the neck and caudal regions, suggesting locomotor pattern and environment affect fusion pattern. We also studied bony fusion of the sacrum and evaluated criteria used to homologize cetacean vertebrae with the fused sacrum of terrestrial mammals. We found that the initial ossification of the vertebral pedicles in the fetus may be a reliable indicator of sacral homology in modern cetaceans. Finally, we also studied fusion of the centra of cervical vertebrae in B. mysticetus and found that it is not completed until after sexual maturity, and after 20 years of age.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Department of Wildlife Management, North Slope Borough; the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, local subsistence hunters; Dr. Terrence Demos, Department of Radiology, LUMC, for his generosity with scanning fossil cetaceans; Dr. Sirpa Nummela, University of Helsinki; Dr. Lisa Noelle Cooper, NEOMED; Dr. John F. Moran, LUMC; Dr. Larry Heaney and John Mead, FMNH and Sue McLaren, CM for their help and access to museum collections; and Dr. Emily Buchholtz for her correspondence during this project.

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  1. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Rush Medical College, 600 S. Paulina Street, Suite 506Ac/Fac, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    Meghan M. Moran

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, 247667, India

    Sunil Bajpai

  3. Department of Wildlife Management, North Slope Borough, P.O. Box 69, Barrow, AK, 99723, USA

    J. Craig George & Robert Suydam

  4. Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, 4209 State Route 44, Rootstown, OH, 44272, USA

    Sharon Usip & J. G. M. Thewissen

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  1. Meghan M. Moran
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Correspondence to Meghan M. Moran.

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Moran, M.M., Bajpai, S., George, J.C. et al. Intervertebral and Epiphyseal Fusion in the Postnatal Ontogeny of Cetaceans and Terrestrial Mammals. J Mammal Evol 22, 93–109 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-014-9256-7

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