From Teeth to Baleen and Raptorial to Bulk Filter Feeding in Mysticete Cetaceans: The Role of Paleontological, Genetic, and Geochemical Data in Feeding Evolution and Ecology
Journal: Integrative and Comparative Biology
Year: 2016

The origin of baleen and filter feeding in mysticete cetaceans occurred sometime between approximately 34 and 24 million years ago and represents a major macroevolutionary shift in cetacean morphology (teeth to baleen) and ecology (raptorial to filter feeding). We explore this dramatic change in feeding strategy by employing a diversity of tools and approaches: morphology, molecules, development, and stable isotopes from the geological record. Adaptations for raptorial feeding in extinct toothed