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Eschrichtius robustus (gray whale)

Mammalia - Cetacea - Eschrichtiidae

Taxonomy
Balaenoptera robusta was named by Lilljeborg (1861). It is extant. Its type specimen is University Museum of Upsala, a partial skeleton. Its type locality is Graso, which is in a Holocene coastal sandstone/claystone in Sweden.

It was recombined as Megaptera (Eschrichtius) robusta by Gray (1864); it was recombined as Plesiocetus robustus by Brandt (1874), Trouessart (1898) and Trouessart (1904); it was synonymized subjectively with Balaena gibbosa by Van Deinse (1937); it was synonymized subjectively with Eschrichtius gibbosus by Hershkovitz (1966); it was considered an invalid subgroup of Eschrichtius by Marx and Fordyce (2015); it was recombined as Eschrichtius robustus by Gray (1865), Gray (1866), Gray (1868), Barnes (1977), Mead and Mitchell (1984), Vidal (1991), Rice (1998), Mead and Brownell (2005), Bisconti and Varola (2006), Bouetel and Muizon (2006), Agnarsson and May-Collado (2008), Uhen et al. (2008), Marx (2011), Geisler et al. (2011), Tsai et al. (2014), Gol'din and Steeman (2015), Tsai and Boessenecker (2015), Garrison et al. (2019) and Fleming et al. (2022).

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1777Balaena gibbosa Erxleben p. 610
1804Balaena gibbosa Lacépède p. 113
1843Balaena gibbosa Owen p. 286
1846Balaena gibbosa Gray p. 16
1850Balaena gibbosa Gray p. 18
1861Balaenoptera robusta Lilljeborg p. 290
1864Megaptera (Eschrichtius) robusta Gray p. 350
1865Eschrichtius robustus Gray p. 494
1866Balaena gibbosa Gray p. 90
1866Eschrichtius robustus Gray p. 133
1868Agaphelus gibbosus Cope p. 159
1868Agaphelus glaucus Cope p. 224
1868Eschrichtius robustus Gray p. 2
1869Rachianectes glaucus Scammon and Cope p. 15
1874Plesiocetus robustus Brandt p. I
1898Plesiocetus robustus Trouessart p. 1074
1904Plesiocetus robustus Trouessart p. 780
1904Agaphelus gibbosus Trouessart p. 786
1904Rachianectes glaucus Trouessart p. 786
1912Rachianectes glaucus Turner p. 29
1937Eschrichtius gibbosus Van Deinse p. 181
1961Eschrichtius glaucus Maher p. 257
1963Eschrichtius gibbosus Scheffer and Rice p. 9
1966Eschrichtius gibbosus Hershkovitz p. 149
1977Eschrichtius robustus Barnes p. 323 figs. Table 1
1984Eschrichtius robustus Mead and Mitchell p. 48
1991Eschrichtius robustus Vidal p. 6
1998Eschrichtius robustus Rice p. 66
2005Eschrichtius robustus Mead and Brownell p. 726
2006Eschrichtius robustus Bisconti and Varola p. 450
2006Eschrichtius robustus Bouetel and Muizon p. 386
2008Eschrichtius robustus Agnarsson and May-Collado p. 981 figs. Fig. 5
2008Eschrichtius robustus Uhen et al. p. 621
2011Eschrichtius robustus Geisler et al. p. 6 figs. Table 1
2011Eschrichtius robustus Marx p. 83 figs. Figure 2
2014Eschrichtius robustus Tsai et al. p. 86
2015Eschrichtius robustus Gol'din and Steeman p. 13 figs. Figure 10
2015Eschrichtius robustus Tsai and Boessenecker p. 104
2019Eschrichtius robustus Garrison et al. p. 8
2022Eschrichtius robustus Fleming et al. p. 3

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
Bilateria
EubilateriaAx 1987
Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
Tetrapoda
Reptiliomorpha
Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
Cotylosauria()
Amniota
subclassSynapsida
Therapsida()
infraorderCynodontia()
Mammaliamorpha
Mammaliaformes
classMammalia
Theriamorpha(Rowe 1993)
Theriiformes()
RankNameAuthor
Trechnotheria
Cladotheria
Zatheria
subclassTribosphenida()
subclassTheria
Eutheria()
Placentalia
Boreoeutheria
Laurasiatheria
Scrotifera
Euungulata
Artiodactylamorpha
Artiodactyla()
Whippomorpha
orderCetacea
Pelagiceti
Neoceti
suborderMysticeti
Chaeomysticeti()
Plicogulae
superfamilyBalaenopteroideaGray 1868
familyEschrichtiidae
genusEschrichtius()
speciesrobustus(Lilljeborg 1861)

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.

Eschrichtius robustus Lilljeborg 1861 [gray whale]
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Invalid names: Agaphelus glaucus Cope 1868 [synonym], Eschrichtius gibbosus Erxleben 1777 [synonym]
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: carnivoresubo
Diet 2: suspension feedersubo
Reproduction: viviparouso
Created: 2005-03-06 14:20:41
Modified: 2005-03-06 16:34:40
Source: subo = suborder, o = order
Reference: Uhen 2004

Age range: base of the Early/Lower Pleistocene to the top of the Holocene or 2.58800 to 0.00000 Ma

Collections (34 total)


Time interval Ma Country or state Original ID and collection number
Early/Lower Pleistocene2.588 - 0.781USA (California) Eschrichtius robustus (75484)
Late/Upper Pleistocene0.126 - 0.0117Netherlands Eschrichtius robustus (82530)
Late/Upper Pleistocene0.126 - 0.0117USA (Virginia) Eschrichtius glaucus (73486) Eschrichtius robustus (86236)
Late/Upper Pleistocene0.126 - 0.0117USA (South Carolina) Eschrichtius robustus (188304)
Late/Upper Pleistocene0.126 - 0.0117USA (California) Eschrichtius robustus (154223)
Late/Upper Pleistocene0.126 - 0.0117USA (Georgia) Eschrichtius robustus (96681)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0USA (Oregon) Eschrichtius robustus (224273)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0USA (North Carolina) Eschrichtius robustus (86524 86525 86527 226775)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Netherlands Eschrichtius gibbosus (73756) Eschrichtius robustus (80622)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0USA (Alaska) Eschrichtius robustus (170318)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Belgium Eschrichtius robustus (80624)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0USA (California) Eschrichtius robustus (167973)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Spain Eschrichtius robustus (211825 211826)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Japan Eschrichtius robustus (167974)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Russian Federation Eschrichtius robustus (198900)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0USA (New York) Eschrichtius robustus (86526)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0USA (New Jersey) Eschrichtius robustus (86522)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Norway Eschrichtius robustus (175540)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0USA (South Carolina) Eschrichtius robustus (86523)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Spain (Asturias) Cetacea indet. (196881)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0United Kingdom (England) Eschrichtius robustus (80625 80626 86521)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0USA (Delaware) Eschrichtius robustus (56423)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Morocco Cetacea indet. (196910)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0USA (Florida) Eschrichtius robustus (201719 201720)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Sweden (Gräso) Balaenoptera robusta (type locality: 80623)