Balaenopteridae

Rorquals are the largest group of baleen whales, comprising the family Balaenopteridae, which contains nine extant species in two genera. They include the largest animal ever known to have lived, the blue whale, which can reach 180 tonnes, and the fin whale, which reaches 120 tonnes ; the smallest of the group, the northern minke whale, reaches 9 tonnes.

Balaenopteridae

NOAA Photo Library · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
rorqualPBDB
Sits inside
ThalassotheriiPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Mysticeti
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mysticeti

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 465 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 111 of 465 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 173 of 465 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 67 of 465 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–17 Mya — about 1 occurrence17–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 7 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 10 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 10 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 9 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 9 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 9 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 9 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 14 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 15 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 53 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 65 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 49 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 25 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 17 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 148 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

465 occurrences of Balaenopteridae on record, most of them in the Pliocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

465 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

111 formations

Varswater — 33.67°S, 18.43°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EVarswater — 33.00°S, 18.00°EPurisima — 38.03°N, 122.96°WPurisima — 36.96°N, 121.96°WPurisima — 36.97°N, 121.95°WPurisima — 37.28°N, 122.41°WPisco — 15.50°S, 74.80°WPisco — 15.56°S, 74.69°WPisco — 15.55°S, 74.80°WPisco — 15.50°S, 74.88°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WYorktown — 37.20°N, 76.91°WSan Diego — 32.74°N, 117.17°WSan Diego — 32.63°N, 117.10°WSan Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSan Diego — 32.64°N, 117.01°WRed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°ENamba — 34.67°N, 135.54°EKattendijk — 51.21°N, 4.43°EKattendijk — 51.26°N, 4.27°EBreda — 52.15°N, 6.61°EBreda — 51.97°N, 6.72°EBreda — 51.37°N, 3.91°EGroote Heide — 52.04°N, 6.67°EBahía Inglesa — 27.08°S, 70.84°WBahía Inglesa — 27.14°S, 70.88°WBahía Inglesa — 27.04°S, 70.79°WHuelva — 37.31°N, 6.84°WHuelva — 37.27°N, 6.95°WHuelva — 37.26°N, 6.95°WHuelva — 37.32°N, 6.68°WOmma — 36.57°N, 136.69°EOmma — 36.49°N, 136.72°EWhaler's Bluff — 38.36°S, 141.60°ESan Mateo — 33.21°N, 117.38°WOsarushinai — 43.40°N, 142.70°EOsarushinai — 42.92°N, 143.45°ESabbie d'Asti — 45.03°N, 11.85°ESabbie d'Asti — 44.99°N, 8.02°ESabbie d'Asti — 44.85°N, 8.25°ENa-arai — 35.81°N, 140.81°EHorokaoshirarika — 43.84°N, 141.88°EHorokaoshirarika — 43.81°N, 142.00°EWaccamaw — 33.10°N, 80.31°WAlexander Bay — 30.32°S, 17.29°ETamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WTamiami — 26.72°N, 81.67°WMonterey — 36.60°N, 121.89°WMonterey — 33.56°N, 117.71°WHolíč — 48.22°N, 16.33°E

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The named rock units Balaenopteridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 87 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 234 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Balaenopteridae and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Balaenopteridae and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

1,973 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 352 sites for Balaenopteridae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

208 references

Each of the 465 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 196 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Balaenopteridae

Credit
NOAA Photo Library
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Balaenopteridae indet. · TxVP:42958-35

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itThalassotherii through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1864