Balaenoptera musculus Linnaeus 1758 (blue whale)

Mammalia - Cetacea - Balaenopteridae

Alternative combinations: Balaena musculus, Rorqualus musculus

Synonyms: Balaenoptera australis Gray 1846, Balaenoptera brevicauda Ichihara 1966, Balaenoptera indica Blyth 1842, Balaenoptera intermedia Burmeister 1871, Balaenoptera jubartes Lacépède 1804, Balaenoptera sibbaldi Gray 1847, Balaenoptera sulfurea Cope 1869, Balaenoptera sulfureus Cope 1869, Cuvierius latirostris Flower 1864, Cuvierius sibbaldii Gray 1847, Physalus australis Gray 1846, Physalus indicus Blyth 1842, Physalus latirostris Flower 1864, Physalus sibbaldii Gray 1847, Sibbaldius antarcticus Burmeister 1865, Sibbaldius borealis Gray 1864, Sibbaldius sulfureus Scammon and Cope 1869, Sibbaldus borealis Gray 1864, Stenobalaena xanthogaster Gray 1874

Full reference: C. Linnaeus. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Editio Decima 1:1-824

Belongs to Balaenoptera according to P. Gol'din and M. E. Steeman 2015

See also Agnarsson and May-Collado 2008, Barnes 1977, Bergqvist et al. 1999, Clapham and Mead 1999, Cuvier 1836, Gervais 1852, Govender and Marx 2023, Gray 1846, Gray 1846, Gray 1850, Gray 1864, Gray 1866, Gray 1868, Hassanin et al. 2012, Hector 1875, Hershkovitz 1966, Lacépède 1804, Linnaeus 1758, Marx 2011, Marx and Fordyce 2015, Mead and Brownell 2005, Oliver 1922, Rice 1998, Scammon and Cope 1869, Scheffer and Rice 1963, Thomas 1911, Trouessart 1904, Tsai et al. 2014, Turner 1912, Van Beneden and Gervais 1880 and Vidal 1991

Sister taxa: Balaenoptera acutorostrata, Balaenoptera andrejewi, Balaenoptera bonaerensis, Balaenoptera borealis, Balaenoptera brydei, Balaenoptera cephalus, Balaenoptera davidsonii, Balaenoptera edeni, Balaenoptera fasciata, Balaenoptera grimmi, Balaenoptera omurai, Balaenoptera physalus, Balaenoptera ricei, Balaenoptera ryani, Balaenoptera siberi, Balaenoptera sursiplana

Type specimens:

  • Balaenoptera musculus: 1. Its type locality is Firth of Forth, which is in a Holocene coastal horizon in the United Kingdom.
  • Balaenoptera australis:
  • Balaenoptera brevicauda:
  • Balaenoptera indica:
  • Balaenoptera intermedia:
  • Balaenoptera jubartes:
  • Balaenoptera sulfureus:
  • Cuvierius latirostris:
  • Physalus sibbaldii:
  • Sibbaldius antarcticus:
  • Sibbaldius sulfureus:
  • Sibbaldus borealis:
  • Stenobalaena xanthogaster:

Distribution:

• Quaternary of Brazil (2 collections), Denmark (1), Italy (1), Japan (1), Mexico (1), the Netherlands (1), New Caledonia (1), the United Arab Emirates (1), the United Kingdom (3)

• Miocene to Pleistocene of the Netherlands (1)

• Neogene of South Africa (1)

Total: 14 collections each including a single occurrence

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Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.


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