Dear colleagues We are very pleased to announce a new paper - reporting the first discovery of *Caperea *in the northern hemisphere (from the Pleistocene of Okinawa, Japan and Sicily, Italy).
Tsai C-H, Collareta A, Fitzgerald EMG, Marx FG, Kohno N, Bosselaers M, Insacco G, Reitano A, Catanzariti R, Oishi M, Bianucci G. 2017. Northern pygmy right whales highlight Quaternary marine mammal interchange. Current Biology 27(19): 1058 - 1059. (doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.08.056) Summary The pygmy right whale, *Caperea marginata*, is the most enigmatic living whale. Little is known about its ecology and behaviour, but unusual specialisations of visual pigments [1], mitochondrial tRNAs [2], and postcranial anatomy [3] suggest a lifestyle different from that of other extant whales. Geographically, *Caperea* represents the only major baleen whale lineage entirely restricted to the Southern Ocean. *Caperea*-like fossils, the oldest of which date to the Late Miocene, are exceedingly rare and likewise limited to the Southern Hemisphere [4], despite a more substantial history of fossil sampling north of the equator. Two new Pleistocene fossils now provide unexpected evidence of a brief and relatively recent period in geological history when *Caperea* occurred in the Northern Hemisphere (Figure 1A,B). The paper could be downloaded from this link: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822%2817%2931096-5#.Wdvp6K7CqEs.facebook Alternatively, if the link does not work, please just email me ( [email protected]; [email protected]) or Felix ( [email protected]) for a pdf copy. Regards and all the best, Tsai -- 蔡政修（Cheng-Hsiu Tsai さい まさのぶ) JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow (JSPS: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science 日本學術振興會) Department of Geology and Paleontology, National Museum of Nature and Science (Tsukuba Research Center) 4-1-1 Amakubo, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-0005, Japan Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
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