Anoplotherium skeletal diagram from copyrightexpired.com
Over at Catalogue of Organisms, Christopher has put up an interesting post about recently described bipedal adaptations in an extinct relative of camels, the tylopod Anoplotherium. Well worth a read!
…that is to say, scientists have described a fossil whale with a wicked set of chompers that comes from the base of the mysticete (baleen whale) lineage as opposed to the odontocete (toothed whale) line. Janjucetus hunderi, from the Late Oligocene of Australia, shows that the ancestors of today’s filter-feeding giants didn’t evolve their plankton-straining baleen until well after they split away from other whales.
The reference is:
Erich M. G. Fitzgerald, A bizarre new toothed mysticete (Cetacea) from Australia and the early evolution of baleen whales. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. First-Cite Early Online Publishing. doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.3664 1
Here’s the story from the Australian Broadcasting Company.
And Carl Zimmer has an in-depth review with figures at The Loom.
Update 8/16: More Janjucetus info and artwork available on Brian Choo’s website.