Whistles of boto, Inia geoffrensis, and tucuxi, Sotalia fluviatilis

Whistles were recorded and analyzed from free-ranging single or mixed species groups of boto and tucuxi in the Peruvian Amazon, with sonograms presented. Analysis revealed whistles recorded falling into two discrete groups: a low-frequency group with maximum frequency below 5 kHz, and a high-frequency group with maximum frequencies above 8 kHz and usually above 10 kHz. Whistles in the two groups differed significantly in all five measured variables (beginning frequency, end frequency, minimum frequency, maximum frequency, and duration). Comparisons with Published details of whistles by other platanistoid river dolphins and by oceanic dolphins suggest that the low-frequency whistles were produced by boto, the high-frequency whistles by tucuxi. Tape recordings obtained on three occasions when only one species was present tentatively support this conclusion, but it is emphasized that this is based on few data. (C) 2001 Acoustical Society of America.

An estimate of divergence time of parazoa and eumetazoa and that of cephalochordata and vertebrata by aldolase and triose phosphate isomerase clocks

Previously we suggested that four proteins including aldolase and triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) evolved with approximately constant rates over long periods covering the whole animal phyla. The constant rates of aldolase and TPI evolution were reexamined based on three different models for estimating evolutionary distances, It was shown that the evolutionary rates remain essentially unchanged in comparisons not only between different classes of vertebrates but also between vertebrates and arthropods and even between animals and plants, irrespective of the models used, Thus these enzymes might be useful molecular clocks for inferring divergence times of animal phyla, To know the divergence time of Parazoa and Eumetazoa and that of Cephalochordata and Vertebrata, the aldolase cDNAs from Ephydatia fluviatilis, a freshwater sponge, and the TPI cDNAs from Ephydatia fluviatilis and Branchiostoma belcheri an amphioxus, have been cloned and sequenced, Comparisons of the deduced amino acid sequences of aldolase and TPI from the freshwater sponge with known sequences revealed that the Parazoa-Eumetazoa split occurred about 940 million years ago (Ma) as determined by the average of two proteins and three models, Similarly, the aldolase and TPI clocks suggest that vertebrates and amphioxus last shared a common ancestor around 700 Ma and they possibly diverged shortly after the divergence of deuterostomes and protostomes.