PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Balaenula

Mammalia - Cetacea - Balaenidae

Taxonomy

Balaenula was named by Van Beneden (1872). It was considered monophyletic by Churchill et al. (2012).

It was synonymized subjectively with Balaena by Lydekker (1887).

It was assigned to Balaeninae by Hay (1930); to Cetacea by Sepkoski (2002); and to Balaenidae by Van Beneden (1872), Palmer (1904), Kellogg (1928), Simpson (1945), Barnes (1977), Pilleri (1987), Carroll (1988), McKenna and Bell (1997), Bisconti (2003), Whitmore and Kaltenbach (2008), Uhen et al. (2008), Bisconti (2009), Churchill et al. (2012), Manganelli and Benocci (2014), Marx and Fordyce (2015), Boessenecker and Fordyce (2015), Marx et al. (2016) and Berta (2017).

Species

B. astensis, B. balaenopsis, B. forsythmajori, B. praediolensis

Synonyms

Balaenula praediolensis was named by Cuscani Politi (1961). Its type specimen is ASF 7149, 7132, 7133, 7143, 7144, a partial skull, and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is San Casciano dei Bagni, which is in a Pliocene marine horizon in Italy.

It was considered a nomen nudum by Bisconti (2003); it was considered an invalid subgroup of Balaenula by Field et al. (2017).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1872	Balaenula Van Beneden p. 11
1904	Balaenula Palmer p. 132
1928	Balaenula Kellogg p. 35 figs. Table 1
1930	Balaenula Hay p. 578
1945	Balaenula Simpson p. 105
1961	Balaenula praediolensis Cuscani Politi p. 18 figs. not figured
1977	Balaenula Barnes p. 331
1987	Balaenula Pilleri p. 77
1988	Balaenula Carroll
1997	Balaenula McKenna and Bell p. 378
2002	Balaenula Sepkoski
2003	Balaenula Bisconti p. 27
2008	Balaenula Uhen et al. p. 618
2008	Balaenula Whitmore and Kaltenbach p. 253
2009	Balaenula Bisconti p. 153
2012	Balaenula Churchill et al. p. 19
2014	Balaenula Manganelli and Benocci p. 108
2015	Balaenula Boessenecker and Fordyce figs. Table 1
2015	Balaenula Marx and Fordyce p. 4 figs. Figure 2
2016	Balaenula Marx et al. p. 108
2017	Balaenula Berta p. 167

Is something missing? Join the Paleobiology Database and enter the data

Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
subclass	Synapsida
—	Therapsida	()
infraorder	Cynodontia	()
—	Mammaliamorpha
—	Mammaliaformes
class	Mammalia
—	Theriamorpha	(Rowe 1993)

Rank	Name	Author
—	Theriiformes	()
—	Trechnotheria
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Boreoeutheria
—	Laurasiatheria
—	Scrotifera
—	Euungulata
—	Artiodactylamorpha
—	Artiodactyla	()
—	Whippomorpha
order	Cetacea
—	Pelagiceti
—	Neoceti
suborder	Mysticeti
—	Chaeomysticeti	()
—	Balaenomorpha
superfamily	Balaenoidea
family	Balaenidae	()
genus	Balaenula

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Balaenula Van Beneden 1872

show all | hide all

†Balaenula astensis Trevisan 1942

†Balaenula balaenopsis Van Beneden 1872

†Balaenula forsythmajori Pilleri 1987

Invalid names: Balaenula praediolensis Cuscani Politi 1961 [invalid subgroup]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

hydroxyapatitesubo

Form:

roller-shapedo

Ontogeny:

modification of partso

Environment:

marinesubo

Locomotion:

actively mobileo

Life habit:

aquaticsubo

Depth habitat:

surfaceo

Diet:

suspension feederf

Reproduction:

viviparouso

Created:

2005-06-08 10:11:09

Modified:

2005-06-08 12:11:09

Source: f = family, subo = suborder, o = order

References: Nowak 1991, Uhen 2004

Age range: base of the Burdigalian to the top of the Late/Upper Pleistocene or 20.44000 to 0.01170 Ma

Collections (22 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Burdigalian	20.44 - 15.97	France	B. balaenopsis (57732)
Serravallian	13.82 - 11.62	Netherlands	B. balaenopsis (75152)
Tortonian	11.62 - 7.246	USA (California)	B. sp. (52216 75780)
Late/Upper Miocene	11.608 - 5.333	Netherlands	B. balaenopsis (53889)
Hemphillian	10.3 - 4.9	USA (California)	B. sp. (57909)
Messinian - Zanclean	7.246 - 3.6	Japan (Hokkaido)	B. sp. (97629)
Early/Lower Pliocene	5.333 - 3.6	Japan (Hokkaido)	B. sp. (75992)
Zanclean	5.333 - 3.6	Italy (Asti)	B. astensis (50345)
Zanclean	5.333 - 3.6	Japan (Hokkaido)	B. sp. (45803)
Zanclean	5.333 - 3.6	USA (North Carolina)	B. sp. (52582)
Early/Lower Pliocene - Late/Upper Pliocene	5.333 - 2.588	Japan (Chiba)	B. sp. (56942)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.588	Belgium (Antwerpen)	B. balaenopsis (67029)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.588	Italy (Tuscany)	B. praediolensis (76976)
Zanclean - Piacenzian	5.333 - 2.588	Belgium (Zedelgem)	B. balaenopsis (67027)
Blancan	4.9 - 1.8	USA (California)	B. sp. (75785)
Piacenzian	3.6 - 2.588	Italy	Balaena forsythmajori (190380) B. sp., B. balaenopsis (47428)
Gelasian	2.588 - 1.806	United Kingdom (England)	Balaena balaenopsis (48093)
Early/Lower Pleistocene	2.588 - 0.781	Netherlands	B. balaenopsis (189574)
Calabrian	1.8 - 0.774	Italy (Umbria)	B. sp. (149603)
Late/Upper Pleistocene	0.129 - 0.0117	USA (South Carolina)	B. sp. (188304)