Megabalaena sapporoensis Tanaka et al. 2025 (right whale)

Mammalia - Cetacea - Balaenidae

Full reference: Y. Tanaka, T. Kimura, T. Shinmura, H. Ohira, and H. Furusawa. 2025. A new member of a large and archaic balaenid from the Late Miocene of Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan partly fills a gap of right whale evolution. Palaeontologia Electronica 28(2):a37

Belongs to Megabalaena according to Y. Tanaka et al. 2025

Sister taxa: none

Type specimen: SMAC 2731, a partial skeleton (skull consists of the posterior half, missing all but the base of the ros- trum, including the posterior ends of the maxillae, premaxillae, nasals, frontals, ju). Its type locality is Sapporo, which is in a Tortonian coastal siltstone in the Toyama Formation of Japan.

Ecology: aquatic suspension feeder

Distribution: found only at Sapporo

Show more details


Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.


Click image to enlarge. Click to access iDigBio record.