Mammalia - Cetacea - Balaenopteridae
Synonym: Palaeocetidae Seeley 1865
Full reference: J. E. Gray. 1864. Notes on the Whalebone-Whales; with a Synopsis of the Species. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History 14:345-353
Parent taxon: Thalassotherii according to M. Bisconti et al. 2022
See also Abel 1914, Abel 1919, Agnarsson and May-Collado 2008, Baird and Horner 1979, Barnes et al. 1985, Benton 1993, Bergqvist et al. 1999, Berta 2017, Bianucci and Landini 2007, Bisconti 2007, Bisconti 2014, Bisconti and Bosselaers 2016, Bisconti and Bosselaers 2020, Bisconti et al. 2013, Bisconti et al. 2019, Bisconti et al. 2020, Boessenecker and Fordyce 2015, Bosselaers and Post 2010, Bouetel and Muizon 2006, Brandt 1874, Brandt 1874, Canto et al. 2010, Carroll 1988, Clapham and Mead 1999, Dal Piaz 1929, Deméré 1986, Ekdale et al. 2011, Ellerman and Morrisson-Scott 1951, Flores 1895, Flower 1865, Flower 1867, Fordyce 2003, Fordyce and Barnes 1994, Fordyce et al. 1995, Fordyce and de Muizon 2001, Fordyce and Roberts 2009, Fraser and Purves 1960, Geisler et al. 2011, Geisler and Sanders 2003, Gill 1871, Gill 1872, Gill 1873, Gingerich 2005, Gondar 1966, Gray 1864, Gray 1866, Gray 1868, Gray 1871, Hay 1902, Hay 1930, Jaekel 1911, Kellogg 1928, Marx and Kohno 2016, Marx et al. 2016, McKenna and Bell 1997, Mead and Brownell 2005, Miller 1923, Mitchell 1989, Nowak 1991, Riabinin 1934, Rice 1998, Rice 2002, Rice 2009, Sanders and Barnes 2002, Scheffer and Rice 1963, Scott 1873, Seeley 1865, Simpson 1945, Steeman 2007, Steeman 2010, Tanaka and Watanabe 2019, Turner 1912, Uhen et al. 2008, Van Deinse 1931, Vidal 1991, Weber 1904, Weber 1928, Whitmore 1984, Whitmore and Kaltenbach 2008 and Zittel 1925
Sister taxa: Aglaocetidae, Atlanticetus, Diorocetidae, Isocetus, Pelocetidae, Plesiocetus burtinii
Subtaxa: Archaebalaenoptera Balaena affinis Balaena definata Balaena emarginata Balaena gibbosa Balaenoptera Balaenoptera borealina Balaenoptera musculoides Balaenoptera portisii Balaenoptera rostratella Balaenoptera sibbaldina Balaenoptera taiwanica Balaenopterinae Cetotheriophanes Delphinus brachyspondylus Diunatans Eobalaenoptera Eschrichtiinae Fragilicetus Hadrosaurus tripos Incakujira Marzanoptera Megaptera Megaptera affinis Megapterinae Megapteropsis robusta Miobalaenoptera Nehalaennia Notiocetus Parabalaenopterinae Plesiobalaenoptera Praemegaptera Praemegapterinae Protororqualus
Ecology: aquatic suspension feeder
Distribution:
• Quaternary of Angola (2 collections), Antarctica (2), Argentina (3), Brazil (5), Canada (4: New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec), Chile (1), China (2), Denmark (13), France (1), Germany (1), Greece (2), Greenland (1), India (1), Italy (3), Japan (20), Mexico (1), Morocco (1), Myanmar (1), the Netherlands (2), New Caledonia (4), Norway (4), Peru (3), South Africa (2), Spain (2), Svalbard and Jan Mayen (2), Taiwan (2), the United Arab Emirates (2), the United Kingdom (7), United States (18: Alaska, California, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina)
• Blancan of Mexico (1)
• Pliocene to Pleistocene of Ecuador (1), Taiwan (1)
• Pliocene of Australia (5), Belgium (16), Chile (3), Italy (22), Japan (9), Mexico (1), the Netherlands (4), New Zealand (2), Peru (2), South Africa (15), Spain (8), Taiwan (2), United States (23: California, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia)
• Hemphillian of United States (1: California)
• Miocene to Pleistocene of the Netherlands (1), United States (1: Massachusetts)
• Miocene to Pliocene of Australia (1), Belgium (1), Chile (2), Japan (1), Portugal (1), South Africa (2), United States (3: California)
• Neogene of Austria (1), South Africa (2), South Pacific (3)
• Miocene of Argentina (3), Australia (4), Austria (7), Belgium (1), Chile (3), Germany (1), Indonesia (2), Iran (2), Italy (3), Japan (12), Libya (1), Mexico (2), the Netherlands (6), New Zealand (4), Peru (4), Portugal (1), the Russian Federation (1), Slovenia (2), South Africa (1), Spain (1), United States (15: California, Maryland, Virginia)
• Oligocene to Miocene of New Zealand (1)
Total: 324 collections including 414 occurrences