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Megaptera (Eschrichtius) (gray whale)

Mammalia - Cetacea - Balaenopteridae

Taxonomy
Megaptera (Eschrichtius) was named by Gray (1864) [Sepkoski's age data: T Mi-m R Sepkoski's reference number: 746]. It is extant. It was considered monophyletic by Ekdale et al. (2011).

It was misspelled as Eschrictius by Carroll (1988); it was reranked as Eschrichtius by Gray (1866), Cope (1867), Gray (1868), Cope (1868), Scammon and Cope (1869), Gray (1871), Gill (1871), Palmer (1904), Ellerman and Morrisson-Scott (1951), Fraser and Purves (1960), Scheffer and Rice (1963), Barnes (1977), Vidal (1991), Benton (1993), McKenna and Bell (1997), Rice (1998), Sepkoski (2002), Geisler and Sanders (2003), Mead and Brownell (2005), Bisconti and Varola (2006), Bouetel and Muizon (2006), Steeman (2007), Bisconti (2008), Agnarsson and May-Collado (2008), Uhen et al. (2008), Geisler et al. (2011), Ekdale et al. (2011), Tsai et al. (2014), Gol'din and Steeman (2015), Marx and Fordyce (2015), Boessenecker and Fordyce (2015), Tsai and Boessenecker (2015), Marx et al. (2016), Berta (2017), Kimura et al. (2018), Garrison et al. (2019) and Fleming et al. (2022).

It was assigned to Megaptera by Gray (1864); to Megapterinae by Gill (1871); to Megapteridae by Gray (1868) and Gray (1871); to Eschrichtinae by Fraser and Purves (1960); to Balaenidae by Cope (1867), Cope (1868), Scammon and Cope (1869), Palmer (1904) and Carroll (1988); to Cetacea by Sepkoski (2002); to Balaenopteridae by Gray (1866) and Agnarsson and May-Collado (2008); to by Marx and Fordyce (2015); and to Eschrichtiidae by Ellerman and Morrisson-Scott (1951), Scheffer and Rice (1963), Barnes (1977), Vidal (1991), Benton (1993), McKenna and Bell (1997), Rice (1998), Geisler and Sanders (2003), Mead and Brownell (2005), Bisconti and Varola (2006), Bouetel and Muizon (2006), Steeman (2007), Bisconti (2008), Uhen et al. (2008), Geisler et al. (2011), Ekdale et al. (2011), Tsai et al. (2014), Gol'din and Steeman (2015), Boessenecker and Fordyce (2015), Tsai and Boessenecker (2015), Marx et al. (2016), Berta (2017), Kimura et al. (2018), Garrison et al. (2019) and Fleming et al. (2022).

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1815Cyphonotus Rafinesque
1864Megaptera (Eschrichtius) Gray p. 350
1866Eschrichtius Gray p. 131
1867Eschrichtius Cope p. 144
1868Eschrichtius Cope p. 191
1868Agaphelus Cope p. 193
1868Eschrichtius Gray p. 2
1869Agaphelus Scammon and Cope p. 14
1869Eschrichtius Scammon and Cope p. 14
1869Rachianectes Scammon and Cope p. 15
1869Rhachianectes Scammon and Cope p. 15
1871Agaphelus Gill p. 126
1871Eschrichtius Gill p. 126
1871Rhachianectes Gill p. 126
1871Agaphelus Gray p. 47
1871Rhachianectes Gray p. 48
1871Eschrichtius Gray p. 52
1872Agaphelus Gill p. 97
1872Rachianectes Gill p. 97
1873Agaphelus Scott p. 131
1890Rachianectes Cope p. 612
1904Agaphelus Palmer p. 83
1904Eschrichtius Palmer p. 271
1904Rhachianectes Palmer p. 603
1904Agaphelus Trouessart p. 786
1904Rhachianectes Trouessart p. 786
1912Rachianectes Turner p. 29
1921Rhachionectes Winge p. 7
1923Rhachianectes Miller p. 40
1928Rhachianectes Weber p. 389
1951Eschrichtius Ellerman and Morrisson-Scott p. 713
1960Eschrichtius Fraser and Purves p. 112 figs. Figure 26
1963Eschrichtius Scheffer and Rice p. 9
1977Eschrichtius Barnes p. 323 figs. Table 1
1988Eschrictius Carroll p. 643
1991Eschrichtius Vidal p. 6
1993Eschrichtius Benton p. 762
1997Eschrichtius McKenna and Bell p. 378
1998Eschrichtius Rice
2002Eschrichtius Sepkoski
2003Eschrichtius Geisler and Sanders p. 28
2005Eschrichtius Mead and Brownell p. 725
2006Eschrichtius Bisconti and Varola p. 450
2006Eschrichtius Bouetel and Muizon p. 386
2007Eschrichtius Steeman p. 880
2008Eschrichtius Agnarsson and May-Collado p. 981 figs. Fig. 5
2008Eschrichtius Bisconti p. 173
2008Eschrichtius Uhen et al. p. 621
2011Eschrichtius Ekdale et al. p. 39
2011Eschrichtius Geisler et al. p. 6 figs. Table 1
2014Eschrichtius Tsai et al. p. 83
2015Eschrichtius Boessenecker and Fordyce figs. Table 1
2015Eschrichtius Gol'din and Steeman p. 13 figs. Figure 10
2015Eschrichtius Marx and Fordyce p. 4 figs. Figure 2
2015Eschrichtius Tsai and Boessenecker p. 104
2016Eschrichtius Marx et al. p. 112
2017Eschrichtius Berta p. 168
2018Eschrichtius Kimura et al. p. 2
2019Eschrichtius Garrison et al. p. 8
2022Eschrichtius Fleming et al. p. 3

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
—Bilateria
—EubilateriaAx 1987
—Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
—Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
—Tetrapoda
—Reptiliomorpha
—Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
—Cotylosauria()
—Amniota
subclassSynapsida
—Therapsida()
infraorderCynodontia()
—Mammaliamorpha
—Mammaliaformes
classMammalia
RankNameAuthor
—Cladotheria
—Zatheria
subclassTribosphenida()
subclassTheria
—Eutheria()
—Placentalia
—Boreoeutheria
—Laurasiatheria
—Scrotifera
—Euungulata
—Artiodactylamorpha
—Artiodactyla()
—Whippomorpha
orderCetacea
—Pelagiceti
—Neoceti
suborderMysticeti
—Chaeomysticeti()
—Balaenomorpha
superfamilyThalassotherii
familyBalaenopteridae
genusMegaptera
subgenusEschrichtius

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

Subg. Megaptera (Eschrichtius) Gray 1864 [gray whale]
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Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
T. Kimura et al. 2018A genus of Eschrich- tiidae having narrow and moderately arched rostrum, less telescoped cranium with frontals widely exposed on vertex, thick lateral process of maxilla, unusually large external bony nares, proportionally large nasal bones, highly reduced coronoid process of mandible; di ering from Archaeschrichtius by lacking well developed coro- noid and satellite processes of mandible; di ering from Eschrichtioides by having proportionally larger nasal bones, wider ascending process of premaxilla extending nearly to level of posterior termination of nasal, frontals widely exposed on vertex, zygomatic process of squamo- sal anteriorly directed, mandible almost straight in dorsal view, more reduced coronoid process of mandible; differing from Gricetoides by having postglenoid process of squamosal which is directed ventroposteriorly in lateral view and extends posteriorly underneath the external acoustic meatus.