Megaptera

Megaptera

Uncredited · Public Domain · via Wikidata/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
humpback whalePBDB
Sits inside
BalaenopteridaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Balaenopteridae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Mysticeti
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mysticeti

Time the record covers

At least 5.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 46 occurrencesMiocene — about 3 of 46 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 12 of 46 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 11 of 46 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 28 occurrences5.333 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

46 occurrences of Megaptera on record. 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

46 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

17 formations

Jemmys Point — 37.85°S, 148.97°EJemmys Point — 37.85°S, 147.97°EYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WOmma — 36.57°N, 136.69°EOmma — 36.49°N, 136.72°ETamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WSakuragicho — 35.45°N, 139.64°EWhaler's Bluff — 38.36°S, 141.60°EBlack Rock Sandstone — 37.99°S, 145.04°ECameron Inlet — 39.98°S, 148.08°ESanta Vitória — 33.53°S, 53.37°WNa-arai — 35.81°N, 140.81°EAkaishi — 37.05°N, 140.88°ETatsunokuchi — 38.33°N, 140.81°EKioroshi — 35.79°N, 140.22°ENashua — 28.56°N, 81.09°WWaccamaw — 33.10°N, 80.31°WLiuchungchi — 23.43°N, 120.56°ENamba — 34.69°N, 135.50°E

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The named rock units Megaptera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 26 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

578 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 43 sites for Megaptera, 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

28 references

Each of the 46 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. 16 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 Megaptera

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Megaptera novaeangliae · nps:P12PS00972

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

Keep going

What may have been alongside itBalaenopteridae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1846