Balaenula

Balaenula is an extinct genus of baleen whale species which lived during the Pliocene epoch of Europe and possibly North America. Balaenula is a small whale measuring within the range of 6–8 metres (20–26 ft) in length.

Balaenula

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
Sits inside
BalaenidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Balaenidae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Mysticeti
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mysticeti

Time the record covers

At least 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 1.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 20.45 Mya to 774 ka.

Miocene — about 6 of 24 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 14 of 24 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 4 of 24 occurrencesPleistocene21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.9–9.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.2–8.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.5–7.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.9–7.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.2–6.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.5–5.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.8–5.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.1–4.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.4–3.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.7–3.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.0–2.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.3–1.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.7–963 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences963 ka–274 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences15.98 Mya1.8 Mya20.9 Mya274 ka

24 occurrences of Balaenula on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

24 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

14 formations

Yorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WRed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°ESabbie d'Asti — 44.96°N, 8.26°EDrakes Bay — 37.99°N, 123.00°WSan Mateo — 33.20°N, 117.37°WNa-arai — 35.81°N, 140.81°EGroote Heide — 52.04°N, 6.67°EPurisima — 38.05°N, 122.94°WMerced — 38.32°N, 122.90°WRumoi — 43.93°N, 141.64°EHorokaoshirarika — 43.84°N, 141.88°EBreda — 52.15°N, 6.61°EChichibubetsu — 43.72°N, 142.05°EWaccamaw — 33.10°N, 80.31°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Balaenula has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Balaenula and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Balaenula and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

694 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 20 sites for Balaenula, and this reads all 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

21 references

Each of the 24 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. 9 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 content2

Picture of Balaenula

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itBalaenidae through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Van Beneden 1872