Balaenoptera

Balaenoptera (from Latin balaena 'whale', and Ancient Greek πτερά (pterá) 'fin') is a genus of rorquals containing eight extant species.[2] Balaenoptera comprises all but two of the extant species in its family (the humpback whale and gray whale); the genus is currently polyphyletic, with the two aforementioned species being phylogenetically nested within it.[3]

Balaenoptera
Temporal range:
Fin whale
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Balaenopteridae
Genus: Balaenoptera
Lacépède, 1758
Type species
Balaenoptera gibbar [1]
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

See text

This genus is known in the fossil records from the Neogene to the Quaternary (13.65 million years ago to the present).[4]

Fossil of Balaenoptera acutorostrata cuvieri from the Pliocene of Italy

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus Balaenoptera contains the following extant species and subspecies:[2][5]

Fossil species

Many fossil Balaenoptera species have been described. Some (namely B. borealina, B. definata, B. emarginata, B. gibbosa, B. rostratella, and B. sibbaldina) are either nondiagnostic, highly fragmentary, or had no holotype specimen named, hence are considered nomina dubia.[8][9] The valid fossil species of Balaenoptera are:

  • †Balaenoptera bertae is a relatively small species from the Upper Miocene to Upper Pliocene Purisima Formation of California.[10]
  • †Balaenoptera cephalus was originally thought to be a species of Eschrichtius (gray whales) or Cetotherium, but more recent analysis shows it to be a member of Balaenoptera.[11] Fossils of the species were found in the Calvert Formation of Maryland.[12]
  • †Balaenoptera colcloughi is known from four specimens, including four skulls and some postcranial remains, found at the San Diego Formation. It was a close relative of Megaptera novaeangliae (the humpback whale), B. siberi, and B. physalus (the fin whale).[13]
  • †"Balaenoptera" cortesii is a small species based on a juvenile specimen from Montezago; it probably represents a distinct, unnamed genus of balaenopterid.[8]
  • †Balaenoptera davidsonii, like B. cephalus, was originally classified under Eschrichtius, but it has since been moved to Balaenoptera. It was native to the Pliocene San Diego Formation of California.[14] The only known fossil of B. davidsonii is a fragment of the left dentary.[15]
  • †"Balaenoptera" portisi is based on MGPT 13803 from Montafia (originally assigned to B. cortesii by Portis [1885]), and may be the same genus or species as Cetotheriophanes capellinii. The species "B. floridana" is indistinguishable from "B." portisi.[8]
  • †"Balaenoptera" ryani is a valid species but is not in fact a species of Balaenoptera. It probably represents a distinct genus of basal balaenopterid.[8]
  • †Balaenoptera siberi is known from two complete skeletons. Its affinity with the genus Balaenoptera has been questioned.[8][16]
  • †Balaenoptera sursiplana is a fragmentary species, based on a single fossilized tympanic bone.[17]
  • †Balaenoptera taiwanica is named after Taiwan, where the fossil was found in the Pliocene-aged Cholan Formation.[18] B. taiwanica is also based on a single tympanic bone, which is similar to that of B. physalus, the fin whale.[19]

References
  1. Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. "List of marine mammal species and subspecies". Society for Marine Mammalogy. May 2020. Archived from the original on July 14, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  3. McGowen, Michael R; Tsagkogeorga, Georgia; Álvarez-Carretero, Sandra; dos Reis, Mario; Struebig, Monika; Deaville, Robert; Jepson, Paul D; Jarman, Simon; Polanowski, Andrea; Morin, Phillip A; Rossiter, Stephen J (2019-10-21). "Phylogenomic Resolution of the Cetacean Tree of Life Using Target Sequence Capture". Systematic Biology. 69 (3): 479–501. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syz068. ISSN 1063-5157. PMC 7164366. PMID 31633766.
  4. "Balaenoptera". Fossilworks.
  5. Perrin, William; van der Land, Jacob (August 20, 2008). "Balaenoptera Lacépède, 1804". World Cetacea Database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  6. Pastine, Luis A.; Acevedo, Jorge; Siciliano, Salvatore; Sholl, Thais G. C.; de Moura, Jailson F.; Ott, Paulo H.; Aguayo-Lobo, Anelio (December 2015). "Population genetic structure of the South American Bryde's whale". Revista de biología marina y oceanografía. 50 (3): 453–464. doi:10.4067/S0718-19572015000400005.
  7. Fordyce, Ewan; Perrin, William; Vanden Berghe, Edward (July 13, 2020). "Balaenoptera brydei Olsen, 1913". World Cetacea Database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  8. Deméré; et al. (2005). "The Taxonomic and Evolutionary History of Fossil and Modern Balaenopteroid Mysticetes". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 12 (1–2): 99–143. doi:10.1007/s10914-005-6944-3. S2CID 90231.
  9. M. Bisconti. 2007. A new basal balaenopterid whale from the Pliocene of northern Italy. Palaeontology 50(5):1103-1122
  10. Boessenecker, Robert W. "A new marine vertebrate assemblage from the Late Neogene Purisima Formation in Central California, part II: Pinnipeds and Cetaceans." Geodiversitas 35.4 (2012): 815-940.
  11. R. E. Weems and L. E. Edwards. 2007. The age and provenance of "Eschrichtius" cephalus Cope (Mammalia: Cetacea). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(3):752-756
  12. Balaenoptera cephalus at Fossilworks.org
  13. Martin. (2014). From Finbacks to Humpbacks: Investigation of the Evolutionary History of Balaenopteridae Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine.
  14. Balaenoptera davidsonii at Fossilworks.org
  15. T. Demere. 1986. The fossil whale, Balaenoptera davidsonii (Cope 1872), with a review of other Neogene species of Balaenoptera (Cetacea: Mysticeti). Marine Mammal Science 2(4):277-298
  16. M. Bosselaers and K. Post. 2010. A new fossil rorqual (Mammalia, Cetacea, Balaenopteridae) from the Early Pliocene of the North Sea, with a review of the rorqual species described by Owen and Van Beneden. Geodiversitas 32(2):331-363
  17. E. D. Cope. 1895. Fourth contribution to the marine fauna of the Miocene period of the United States. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 34:135-155
  18. Balaenoptera taiwanica at Fossilworks.org
  19. T. Huang. 1966. A new species of a whale tympanic bone from Taiwan, China. Transactions and Proceedings of the Paleontological Society of Japan 61:183-187
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