Mysticeti

Searched as Mysticeti indet.. The Paleobiology Database treats Mysticeti as the accepted name.

Baleen whales, also known as whalebone whales, are marine mammals of the parvorder Mysticeti in the infraorder Cetacea, which use baleen plates in their mouths to sieve plankton from the water. Mysticeti comprises the families Balaenidae, Balaenopteridae (rorquals), Eschrichtiidae and Cetotheriidae. There are 16 species of baleen whales. While cetaceans were historically thought to have descended from mesonychians, molecular evidence instead supports them as a clade of even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla). Baleen whales split from toothed whales (Odontoceti) around 34 million years ago.

Mysticeti

PaleoNeolitic (montage creator) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
NeocetiPBDB
Diet
carnivore, suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
aquaticPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 34.6 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 234 occurrencesOligocene — about 29 of 234 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 97 of 234 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 42 of 234 occurrencesPleistocene — about 34 of 234 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 1 occurrence33–32 Mya — about 1 occurrence32–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–29 Mya — about 1 occurrence29–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 6 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 6 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 6 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 4 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 5 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 5 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 7 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 9 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 11 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 12 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 8 occurrences11–9.4 Mya — about 7 occurrences9.4–8.2 Mya — about 7 occurrences8.2–7.1 Mya — about 7 occurrences7.1–5.9 Mya — about 7 occurrences5.9–4.7 Mya — about 13 occurrences4.7–3.5 Mya — about 18 occurrences3.5–2.4 Mya — about 16 occurrences2.4–1.2 Mya — about 13 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 50 occurrences27.3 Mya11.7 ka35.3 Mya0 Mya

234 occurrences of Mysticeti on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

234 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

104 formations

Pisco — 15.44°S, 74.87°WPisco — 14.35°S, 75.72°WPisco — 14.36°S, 75.71°WPisco — 14.45°S, 75.69°WPisco — 14.59°S, 75.68°WPisco — 15.06°S, 74.08°WMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.80°WMonterey — 34.61°N, 120.44°WMonterey — 33.56°N, 117.71°WOmma — 36.57°N, 136.72°EOmma — 36.54°N, 136.77°EOmma — 36.49°N, 136.72°EPysht — 48.16°N, 123.90°WPysht — 48.15°N, 124.00°WMakah — 48.30°N, 124.42°WEl Cien — 24.39°N, 111.09°WEl Cien — 24.38°N, 110.75°WEl Cien — 24.34°N, 110.99°WVaqueros — 34.47°N, 119.83°WVaqueros — 34.95°N, 119.18°WVaqueros — 33.60°N, 117.80°WJan Juc — 38.33°S, 144.30°EJan Juc — 38.20°S, 144.27°ECalvert — 37.77°N, 77.28°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.53°N, 76.52°WHorcón — 32.71°S, 71.47°WPietra Leccese — 40.35°N, 18.17°EGippsland Limestone — 38.25°S, 146.85°EGippsland Limestone — 37.75°S, 148.40°EYorktown — 36.45°N, 77.09°WYorktown — 37.08°N, 76.36°WSanta Margarita — 37.05°N, 122.04°WSanta Margarita — 35.45°N, 120.28°WMount Harris — 45.14°S, 170.93°EKokoamu Greensand — 44.67°S, 170.36°EKokoamu Greensand — 44.78°S, 170.95°EShimonopporo — 43.15°N, 141.51°EShimonopporo — 42.81°N, 141.54°EUpper Coralline Limestone — 35.95°N, 14.34°ECastilletes — 11.95°N, 71.27°WLincoln Creek — 46.28°N, 123.80°WLincoln Creek — 47.29°N, 123.52°WGaiman — 43.59°S, 65.28°WGaiman — 43.54°S, 65.21°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.92°N, 1.34°ESan Gregorio — 26.15°N, 112.25°WOtotara — 45.07°S, 170.90°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Mysticeti has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 80 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 86 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mysticeti and its relatives

Miocene

Where Mysticeti and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,986 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1,411 sites for Mysticeti, 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

116 references

Each of the 234 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. 104 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 Mysticeti

Credit
PaleoNeolitic (montage creator)
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itNeoceti through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Cope 1891)