Abstract
An isolated compartment of a whale barnacle is herein described from Recent beach deposits in Zoutelande (Walcheren, The Netherlands). This specimen is identified as belonging to the extant coronulid species Cryptolepas rhachianecti, currently known as an epizoic symbiont of the grey whale Eschrichtius robustus. This find represents the first occurrence of C. rhachianecti outside the North Pacific, and the first one as a (sub)fossil. In view of the fact that E. robustus, which is currently confined to the North Pacific, is known as a subfossil from the northeastern Atlantic between late Late Pleistocene (c. 45,000 years ago) and historical (c. 1700 AD) times, we propose a similar (late Quaternary) age for the isolated compartment. The find indicates that the extinct late Quaternary northeastern Atlantic population of E. robustus was infected by Cryptolepas rhachianecti. Our find is, therefore, compatible with the hypothesis of an ancient grey whale migration route running between the subtropical/temperate waters of the northeast Atlantic (or Mediterranean Basin), and the cold waters of the Baltic Sea (or southern Arctic Ocean), through the southern North Sea. Finally, we discuss the systematic placement of the fossil barnacle species Cryptolepas murata and propose the possibility of its removal from the genus Cryptolepas pending further investigations.
References
Aaris-Sørensen, K., Rasmussen, K.L., Linze, C. & Petersen, K.S. (2010) Late Pleistocene and Holocene whale remains (Cetacea) from Denmark and adjacent countries: species, distribution, chronology, and trace element concentrations. Marine Mammal Science, 26 (2), 253–281.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2009.00356.x
Alter, S.E., Meyer, M., Post, K., Czechowski, P., Gravlund, P., Gaines, C., Rosenbaum, H.C., Kaschner, K., Turvey, S.T., Van der Plicht, J., Shapiro, B. & Hofreiter, M. (2015) Climate impacts on transocean dispersal and habitat in gray whales from the Pleistocene to 2100. Molecular Ecology, 24 (7), 1510–1522.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.13121
Bianucci, G., Landini, W. & Buckeridge, J. (2006a) Whale barnacles and Neogene cetacean migration routes. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 49 (1), 115–120.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00288306.2006.9515152
Bianucci, G., Di Celma, C., Landini, W. & Buckeridge, J. (2006b) Palaeoecology and taphonomy of an extraordinary whale barnacle accumulation from the Plio-Pleistocene of Ecuador. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 242 (3), 326–342.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2006.07.004
Bisconti, M. (2008) Morphology and phylogenetic relationships of a new eschrichtiid genus (Cetacea: Mysticeti) from the Early Pliocene of northern Italy. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 153 (1), 161–186.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00374.x
Bisconti, M. & Varola, A. (2006) The oldest eschrichtiid mysticete and a new morphological diagnosis of Eschrichtiidae (gray whales). Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, 112 (3), 447–457.
http://dx.doi.org/10.13130/2039-4942/6352
Borowski, G.H. (1781) Gemeinnützige Naturgeschichte des Thieirreichs. Vol. 2. Gottlieb August Lange, Berlin, 21 pp.
Bradford, A.L., Weller, D.W., Burdin, A.M. & Brownell Jr., R.L. (2011) Using barnacle and pigmentation characteristics to identify gray whale calves on their feeding grounds. Marine Mammal Science, 27 (3), 644–651.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2010.00413.x
Bryant, P.J. (1995) Dating remains of gray whales form the eastern North Atlantic. Journal of Mammalogy, 76 (3), 857–861.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1382754
Bronn, H. (1831) Italiens Tertiär-Gebilde und deren organische Einschlusse. Gross, Heidelberg, 176 pp.
Burmeister, H.I. (1834) Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte der Rankenfüsser (Cirripedia). G. Reimer, Berlin, 60 pp.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.8822
Collareta, A., Margiotta, S., Varola, A., Catanzariti, R., Bosselaers, M. & Bianucci, G. (2016a) A new whale barnacle from the early Pleistocene of Italy suggests an ancient right whale breeding ground in the Mediterranean. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 15 (5), 473–481.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2015.10.006
Collareta, A., Bosselaers, M. & Bianucci, G. (2016b) Jumping from turtles to whales: a Pliocene fossil record depicts an ancient dispersal of Chelonibia on mysticetes. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, 122 (2), 35–44.
http://dx.doi.org/10.13130/2039-4942/7229
Dahl, E. (1956) Some crustacean relationships. In: Wingstrand, K.G. (Ed.), Bertil Hanström: zoological papers in honor of his sixty-fifth birthday. Zoological Institute, Lund, pp. 138–147.
Dall, W.H. (1872) On the parasites of the cetaceans of the N.W. coast of America, with descriptions of new forms. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4, 299–301.
Darling, J.D. (1984) Gray whales off Vancouver Island, British Columbia. In: Jones, M.L., Swartz, S.L. & Leatherwood, S. (Eds.), The Gray Whale Eschrichtius robustus. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 267–287.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-092372-7.50018-2Darwin, C. (1854) A monograph on the subclass Cirripedia, with figures of all the species. The Balanidae, the Verrucidae, etc. Ray Society, London, 684 pp.
Davis, C.W. (1972) Studies on the barnacles epizoic on marine vertebrates. MA thesis, California State University, San Francisco, 60 pp.
Dominici, S., Bartalini, M., Benvenuti, M. & Balestra, B. (2011) Large kings with small crowns: a Mediterranean Pleistocene whale barnacle. Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 50 (2), 95–101.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4435/BSPI.2011.10
Fertl, D. (2002) Barnacles. In: Perrin, W.F., Wursig, B. & Thewissen, J.G.M. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 75–78.
Gruvel, A. (1903) Révision des Cirrhipèdes appartenant à la collection du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle. Operculés. I. Partie Systematique. Nouvelles Archives du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, 4, 95–170.
Hayashi, R. (2012) Atlas of the barnacles on marine vertebrates in Japanese waters including taxonomic review of superfamily Coronuloidea (Cirripedia: Thoracica). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 92 (1), 107–127.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315411000737
Holthuis, L.B. & Fransen, C.H.J.M. (2004) Interesting records of whale epizoic crustaceans from the Dutch North Sea coast (Cirripedia, Amphipoda). Nederlandse Faunistische Mededelingen, 21, 11–16.
Holthuis, L.B., Smeenk, C. & Laarman, F.J. (1998) The find of a whale barnacle, Cetopirus complanatus (Mörch, 1853), in 10th century deposits in the Netherlands. Zoologische Verhandelingen, 323, 349–363.
Lamarck, J.B. (1818) Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertèbres, 5. Verdière, Paris, 612 pp.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.6484
Leach, W.E. (1817) Distribution systématique de la classe des Cirripèdes. Journal de Physique de Chimie et d’Histoire Naturelle, 85, 67–69.
Liljeborg, W. (1861) Öfversigt af de inom Skandinavien (Sverige och Norrige) anträffade Hvalartade Däggdjur (Cetacea). Upsala Universitets Årsskrift, Upsala, 118 pp.
Linnaeus, C. (1767) Systema Naturae. Holmiae, Editio Decima, Reformata. L. Salvius, Stockholm, 1327 pp.
Macé, M. (2003) Did the gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus, calve in the Mediterranean? Lattara, 16, 153–164.
Marquet, R., Collins, J., Jagt, J. & Van Bakel, B. (2009) The invertebrate fauna of the Pliocene in Belgium. Part I. Annellida, Anthozoa and Crustacea. Palaeofocus, 2, 41–61.
Mead, J.G & Mitchell, E. (1984) Atlantic gray whales. In: Jones, M.L., Swartz, S.L., Leatherwood, S. (Eds.), The Gray Whale Eschrichtius robustus. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 33–53.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-092372-7.50008-xMörch, O.A.L. (1853) Cephalophora. In: Catalogus Conchyliorum. Typis Ludovici Kleini, Copenhagen, pp. 65–68.
Müller, O.F. (1776) Zoologica Danicae Prodromus seu Animalium Daniae et Norvegiae indigenarum characters, nomine, et synonyma imprimis popularium. Typis Hallageriis, Copenhagen, xxxii + 282 pp.
Newman, W.A. & Abbott, D.P. (1980) Cirripedia: the barnacles. Intertidal Invertebrates of California. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 504–535.
Newman, W.A. & Ross, A. (1976) Revision of the balanomorph barnacles; including a catalog of the species. San Diego Society of Natural History Memoir, 9, 1–108.
Noakes, S.E., Pyenson, N.D. & McFall, G. (2013) Late Pleistocene gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) offshore Georgia, USA, and the antiquity of gray whale migration in the North Atlantic Ocean. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 392, 502–509.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.10.005
Pike, G.C. (1962) Migration and feeding of the gray whale (Eschrichtius gibbosus). Journal of the Fisheries Board of Canada, 19 (5), 815–838.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f62-051
Pilsbry, H.A. (1916) The sessile barnacles (Cirripedia) contained in the collections of the U.S. National Museum; including a monograph of the American species. United States National Museum Bulletin, 93, 1–366.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.03629236.93.1
Post, K. (2005) A Weichselian marine mammal assemblage from the southern North Sea. Deinsea, 11, 21–27.
Ridgway, S.H., Lindner, E., Mahoney, K.A. & Newman, W.A. (1997) Gray whale barnacles Cryptolepas rhachianecti infest white whales, Delphinapterus leucas, housed in San Diego Bay. Bulletin of Marine Science, 61 (2), 377–385.
Ross, A. & Frick, M.G. (2011) Nomenclatural emendations of the family-group names Cylindrolepadinae, Stomatolepadinae, Chelolepadinae, Cryptolepadinae, and Tubicinellinae of Ross & Frick, 2007—including current definitions of family-groups within the Coronuloidea (Cirripedia: Balanomorpha). Zootaxa, 3106, 60–66.
Scarff, J.E. (1986) Occurrence of the barnacles Coronula diadema, C. reginae and Cetopirus complanatus (Cirripedia) on right wales. Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute, 37, 129–153.
Stevick, P.T., McConnell, B.J. & Hammond P.S. (2002) Patterns of Movement. In: Hoelzel A.R. (Ed.), Marine Mammal Biology: An Evolutionary Approach. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 185–216.
Zullo, V.A. (1961) A new whale barnacle from Late Pleistocene deposits at San Quintín bay, Baja California. The Veliger, 4, 13–14.
Zullo, V.A. (1969) Thoracic Cirripedia of the San Diego Formation, San Diego County, California. Contributions in Science, Los Angeles County Museum, 159, 1–25.