U.S.-Japan Cooperative Research: Pinniped Evolution, Systematics and Biogeography in the North Pacific

小行星9417088 该项目是圣地亚哥州立大学、自然历史博物馆（千叶）和日本国家科学博物馆（东京）的合作研究成果。 该项目将侧重于对日本从渐新世晚期到更新世（2，700 - 500万年前）的岩石沉积物中保存完好的鳍足类化石（海豹、海狮和海象）的头骨和肢体部分进行形态学研究。特别令人感兴趣的是基生鳍足类是现存鳍足类主要类群的祖先。这些来自日本的古代鳍足类化石在数量和物种多样性上仅次于美国，这使得它们对早期鳍足类进化的研究至关重要。 通过对日本和美国的这些标本进行比较研究，研究人员将能够检验目前关于鳍足类之间的进化关系及其在北太平洋的地理历史的假设。项目资金将使美国的一位顶尖专家和一名研究生能够在未来三年内研究日本各博物馆收藏的鳍足类化石。 *** 这个系统生物学和古生物学的项目将使日本和美国的同事之间的合作得以启动。这一宝贵的合作是必要的第一步，朝着全面评估鳍足类的起源和多样化在北太平洋的发展。

9417088 Archibald This project represents a collaborative research effort by San Diego State University, the Natural History Museum (Chiba) and the National Science Museum (Tokyo) in Japan. The project will focus on morphological study of well preserved skulls and limb elements of fossil pinnipeds (seals, sea lions and walruses) from Japan in rock deposits that span the late Oligocene through the Pleistocene (27-.5 million years ago). Of special interest are basal pinnipeds ancestral to the major groups of living pinnipeds. These archaic fossil pinnipeds from Japan are second only to those in the US in number and diversity of species, making them of critical importance for studies of early pinniped evolution. By comparative study of these specimens in Japan and the US, the investigators wil be able to test current hypotheses of the evolutionary relationships among pinnipeds and their biogeographic history in the North Pacific. Project funding will enable a leading expert in the US and a graduate student to study fossil pinnipeds housed in various museum collections in Japan over the next three years. *** This project in systematic biology and paleontology will enable the initiation of collaborative work between colleagues in Japan and the US. This valuable collaboration represents a necessary first step toward the development of a comprehensive assesssment of pinniped origins and diversification in the North Pacific.