Evolution and development of the cetacean skull roof: a case study in novelty and homology

Abstract

Skulls of living whales and dolphins (cetaceans) are telescoped—bones of the skull roof are overlapped by expanded facial bones and/or anteriorly extended occipital bones. Evolution of the underlying skull roof (calvarium), which lies between the telescoped regions, is relatively unstudied. We explore the evolution and development of the calvarium of toothed whales (odontocetes) by integrating fetal data with Oligocene odontocete fossils from North America, including eight neonatal and juvenile skulls of Olympicetus †. We identified two potential synapomorphies of crown Cetacea: contact of interparietals with frontals, and a single anterior median interparietal (AMI) element. Within Odontoceti, loss of contact between the parietals diagnoses the clade including Delphinida, Ziphiidae and Platanistidae (=Synrhina). Delphinida is characterized by a greatly enlarged interparietal. New fetal series of delphinoids reveal a consistent developmental pattern with three elements: the AMI and bilateral posterior interparietals (PIs). The PIs most resemble the medial interparietal elements of terrestrial artiodactyls, suggesting that the AMI of cetaceans could be a unique ossification. More broadly, the paucity of conserved anatomical relationships of the interparietals, as well as the fact that the elements often do not coalesce into a single bone, demonstrates that assessing homology of the interparietals across mammals remains challenging. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The mammalian skull: development, structure and function’.