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Ziphiidae (beaked whales) are a successful family of medium- to large-sized\udtoothed whales. Their extant members perform regular deep dives beyond the\udphotic zone to forage for cephalopods and fish. Conversely, extinct\udlong-snouted stem ziphiids are interpreted as epipelagic predators. However,\udsome aspects of this hypothesis remain unclear due to the lack of clear\udmorphological proxies for recognizing regular deep divers.\ud \udWe compared the forelimb, neck, and pterygoid sinus system of the fossil\udziphiid Messapicetus gregarius with those of other odontocetes to evaluate the potential of these\udbody regions as proxies to assess deep-diving specialization. The\udreconstructed musculature of the neck and forelimb of M. gregarius was also compared\udwith that of other odontocetes. We also quantified variation in the\udproportions of the forelimb and the hamular fossa of the pterygoid sinus\ud(HF) using 16 linear measurements. The degree of association between diving\udbehaviour in extant odontocetes and these measurements was evaluated with and\udwithout phylogenetic correction.\ud \udReconstruction of the neck musculature suggests that M. gregarius\udpossessed a neck more flexible than most extant ziphiids due to the lower\uddegree of fusion of the cervical vertebrae and the large insertions for the\udM. longus colli and Mm. intertransversarii ventrales cervicis. While neck\udrigidity might be related to deep diving, differences in neck flexibility\udamong extant ziphiids indicate a more complex functional interpretation. The\udrelationship between forelimb morphology and diving behaviour was not\udsignificant, both with and without phylogenetic correction, suggesting that it cannot be used to assess deep-diving\udabilities\udwith the parameters considered here. Measurements of the HF revealed successful to evaluate deep-diving\udabilities in odontocetes, with an enlargement of this structure in deep\uddivers. Considering other evidence that suggests an epipelagic behaviour, we\udpropose different scenarios to explain the observation of an enlarged HF in\udM. gregarius: (1) this species may have fed at different depths; (2)\udit performed deep dives to avoid potential predators; or (3) the enlarged HF\udand deep-diving habitat correspond to an ancestral condition, with M. gregarius returning to a more epipelagic habitat

fossil record

Description of the skeleton of the fossil beaked whale &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Messapicetus gregarius&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;: searching potential proxies for deep-diving abilities