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Evidence from flipper structure for a single origin of pinnipeds

Abstract

The mutual affinities of pinnipeds (the 'fin-footed' members of the placental mammal order Carnivore) have been the subject of controversy for more than a century1,2. Disagreement centres over whether the origin of the group from a terrestrial ancestry involved a single or multiple marine invasion(s). Particularly since influential papers of the late 1950s and '60s (refs 3, 4), the dual origin of pinnipeds—sea lions (otariids) plus walruses (odobenids) from bear-like forms, and 'true' seals (phocids) from weasel- or otter-like forms—has become the overwhelmingly dominant view in the morphological systematic literature5–8, a point reflected by its acceptance in several general texts9–11. Anatomical evidence from a survey of appendicular osteology presented here contradicts this notion and suggests radical alteration of currently accepted hypotheses of the relationship of the major pinniped lineages. This evidence strongly suggests a single (monophyletic) origin for the group, a finding in agreement with certain biomolecular results12–15.

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Wyss, A. Evidence from flipper structure for a single origin of pinnipeds. Nature 334, 427–428 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/334427a0

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