Die Perioticum-Innenanatomie der Mysticeti und die Evolution und Entwicklung des niederfrequenten Hörens bei Bartenwalen

• Antragsteller: Privatdozent Dr. Oliver Hampe
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Paläontologie
• Förderung: Förderung von 2012 bis 2018
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 231473123

Cetaceans developed a highly specific organ of hearing adapted to a broad acoustic range. To date, there is only rare information on the origin of low frequency hearing and the low frequency sound source in mysticetes. The living Mysticeti are all pelagic omnivores, some of which produce infrasonic signals that may be used for long-range communication or navigation. The internal anatomy of the periotic, resp. the cochlear curvature, has obviously a significant effect on hearing. It is the intension to study the cochlear anatomy of various fossil representatives of the Balaenopteridae, the stem-balaenopterids, and the Cetotheriidae in comparison with selected archaic whales of the Basilosauridae, Protocetidae and the land-living Anthracotheriidae as their sistergroup, as well as from recent mysticetes to identify morphological changes that may be responsible for the evolution of low frequency hearing. The method applied to investigate the periotics would primarily be neutron tomography, today the method of highest resolution. Testing recently published mysticete phylogenies with the new obtainable cochlear characters will be another strong approach.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen