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Balaena (bowhead whale)

Mammalia - Cetacea - Balaenidae

Taxonomy
Balaena was named by Linnaeus (1758) [Sepkoski's age data: T Plio R Sepkoski's reference number: 746]. It is extant. Its type is Balaena mysticetus. It is the type genus of Balaenidae. It was considered monophyletic by Ekdale et al. (2011).

It was assigned to Cete by Linnaeus (1758); to Cete by Illiger (1811); to Balaenina by Gray (1825); to Balaenini by Winge (1921); to Balaeninae by Flower (1867), Lydekker (1887), Trouessart (1898), Trouessart (1904), Hay (1930) and Fraser and Purves (1960); to Cetacea by Brisson (1762) and Sepkoski (2002); and to Balaenidae by Gray (1821), De Kay (1842), Gray (1846), Gray (1846), Gray (1850), Pictet (1853), Gray (1863), Gray (1864), Flower (1865), Gray (1866), Cope (1867), Gray (1868), Cope (1868), Scammon and Cope (1869), Gill (1871), Brandt (1872), Brandt (1873), Brandt (1874), Ameghino (1889), Cope (1890), Newton (1891), Ameghino (1894), Cope (1895), Hay (1902), Palmer (1904), Case (1904), Turner (1912), Abel (1919), Miller (1923), Zittel (1925), Kellogg (1928), Weber (1928), Simpson (1945), Ellerman and Morrisson-Scott (1951), Scheffer and Rice (1963), Pilleri (1987), Carroll (1988), Rice (1998), Geisler and Sanders (2003), Bisconti (2003), Mead and Brownell (2005), Bouetel and Muizon (2006), Steeman (2007), Agnarsson and May-Collado (2008), Whitmore and Kaltenbach (2008), Uhen et al. (2008), Bisconti (2009), Ekdale et al. (2011), Churchill et al. (2012), Cioppi (2014), Gol'din and Steeman (2015), Marx and Fordyce (2015), Marx et al. (2016) and Berta (2017).

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1758Balaena Linnaeus p. 75
1762Balaena Brisson p. 218
1811Balaena Illiger p. 141
1821Balaena Gray p. 310
1825Balaena Gray p. 340
1837Balaena molassica Bronn p. 732 figs. Pl. 1
1837Balaena tannenbergii Rathke
1842Balaena De Kay p. 124
1846Balaena Gray p. 15
1850Balaena Gray p. 9
1853Balaena Pictet p. 387
1863Balaena Gray p. 198
1864Balaena Gray p. 199
1865Balaena Flower p. 390
1866Balaena Gray p. 79
1867Balaena Cope p. 144
1867Balaena Flower p. 115
1868Balaena Cope p. 193
1868Balaena Gray p. 1
1869Balaena Scammon and Cope p. 15
1870Balaena balsami Cornalia
1871Balaena Gill p. 126
1872Balaena Brandt p. 119
1873Balaena Brandt p. 20
1874Balaena Brandt p. I
1875Balaena balsami Van Beneden p. 757
1876Aulocetus molassicus Van Beneden p. 493
1887Balaena Lydekker p. 16
1889Balaena Ameghino p. 888
1890Balaena Cope p. 612
1891Balaena Newton p. 57
1894Balaena Ameghino p. 436
1895Balaena Cope p. 152
1898Aulocetus molassicus Trouessart p. 1074
1898Balaena Trouessart p. 1089
1898Balaena balsami Trouessart p. 1089
1902Balaena Hay p. 601
1904Balaena Case p. 55
1904Balaena Palmer p. 131
1904Aulocetus molassicus Trouessart p. 781
1904Balaena Trouessart p. 786
1904Balaena balsami Trouessart p. 787
1912Balaena Turner p. 21
1919Balaena Abel p. 753
1921Balaena Winge p. 7
1923Balaena Miller p. 40
1925Balaena Zittel p. 88
1928Balaena Kellogg p. 35 figs. Table 1
1928Balaena Weber p. 389
1930Balaena Hay p. 577
1945Balaena Simpson p. 105
1951Balaena Ellerman and Morrisson-Scott p. 718
1960Balaena Fraser and Purves p. 112 figs. Figure 26
1963Balaena Scheffer and Rice p. 9
1987Balaena Pilleri p. 77
1988Balaena Carroll
1998Balaena Rice p. 61
2002Balaena Sepkoski
2003Balaena Bisconti p. 15
2003Balaena Geisler and Sanders p. 27
2005Balaena Mead and Brownell p. 723
2006Balaena Bouetel and Muizon p. 386
2007Balaena Steeman p. 880
2008Balaena Agnarsson and May-Collado p. 981 figs. Fig. 5
2008Balaena Uhen et al. p. 618
2008Balaena Whitmore and Kaltenbach p. 256
2009Balaena Bisconti p. 153
2011Balaena Ekdale et al. p. 39
2012Balaena Churchill et al. p. 19
2014Balaena Cioppi p. 87
2015Balaena Gol'din and Steeman p. 13 figs. Figure 10
2015Balaena Marx and Fordyce p. 4 figs. Figure 2
2016Balaena Marx et al. p. 108
2017Balaena Berta p. 167

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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
—Theriamorpha(Rowe 1993)
RankNameAuthor
—Theriiformes()
—Trechnotheria
—Cladotheria
—Zatheria
subclassTribosphenida()
subclassTheria
—Eutheria()
—Placentalia
—Boreoeutheria
—Laurasiatheria
—Scrotifera
—Euungulata
—Artiodactylamorpha
—Artiodactyla()
—Whippomorpha
orderCetacea
—Pelagiceti
—Neoceti
suborderMysticeti
—Chaeomysticeti()
—Balaenomorpha
superfamilyBalaenoidea
familyBalaenidae()
genusBalaena

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.

G. Balaena Linnaeus 1758 [bowhead whale]
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†Balaena arcuata Boitard 1844
†Balaena dubusi Van Beneden 1872
†Balaena larteti Van Beneden 1882
†Balaena macrocephalus Desmoulins 1822
†Balaena meneghinii Capellini 1876
†Balaena montalionis Capellini 1904
Balaena mysticetus Linnaeus 1758 [bowhead whale]
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Invalid names: Balaena prisca Nilsson 1847 [synonym], Balaena vulgaris Brisson 1762 [synonym]
†Balaena pampaea Ameghino 1891
†Balaena ricei Westgate and Whitmore 2002
Invalid names: Balaena balsami Cornalia 1870 [nomen nudum], Balaena molassica Bronn 1837 [nomen dubium], Balaena tannenbergii Rathke 1837 [nomen dubium]
Diagnosis
No diagnoses are available