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Balaenoptera musculus (blue whale)

Mammalia - Cetacea - Balaenopteridae

Taxonomy
Balaena musculus was named by Linnaeus (1758) [No type specimen designated (Hershkovitz, 1966).]. It is extant. Its type specimen is 1. Its type locality is Firth of Forth, which is in a Holocene coastal horizon in the United Kingdom.

It was recombined as Rorqualus musculus by Cuvier (1836), Gervais (1852), Hassanin et al. (2012); it was synonymized subjectively with Balaenoptera physalus by Gray (1846), Hershkovitz (1966); it was recombined as Balaenoptera musculus by Van Beneden and Gervais (1880), Trouessart (1904), Thomas (1911), Turner (1912), Oliver (1922), Scheffer and Rice (1963), Barnes (1977), Vidal (1991), Rice (1998), Bergqvist et al. (1999), Mead and Brownell (2005), Agnarsson and May-Collado (2008), Marx (2011), Tsai et al. (2014), Gol'din and Steeman (2015), Marx and Fordyce (2015), Govender and Marx (2023).

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1758Balaena musculus Linnaeus p. 76
1804Balaenoptera jubartes Lacépède p. 120
1836Rorqualus musculus Cuvier p. 334
1842Balaenoptera indica Blyth
1846Balaenoptera australis Gray p. 20
1847Physalus sibbaldii Gray p. 92
1850Physalus australis Gray p. 43
1852Rorqualus musculus Gervais p. 157
1864Physalus latirostris Flower pp. 410-414
1864Physalus sibbaldii Gray p. 222
1864Sibbaldus borealis Gray p. 223 figs. Figure 18
1865Sibbaldius antarcticus Burmeister
1866Cuvierius sibbaldii Gray p. 160
1866Physalus australis Gray p. 161
1866Physalus indicus Gray p. 162
1866Sibbaldius borealis Gray p. 171
1866Sibbaldius antarcticus Gray p. 381
1868Cuvierius sibbaldii Gray p. 3
1868Sibbaldius antarcticus Gray p. 3
1868Sibbaldius borealis Gray p. 3
1869Balaenoptera sulfureus Cope
1869Sibbaldius sulfureus Scammon and Cope p. 20
1871Balaenoptera intermedia Burmeister
1871Cuvierius sibbaldii Gray p. 54
1871Sibbaldius antarcticus Gray p. 55
1871Sibbaldius borealis Gray p. 55
1871Sibbaldius sulphureus Gray p. 55
1873Physalus sibbaldii Scott p. 121
1873Sibbaldius borealis Scott p. 123
1874Stenobalaena xanthogaster Gray p. 305
1875Physalus australis Hector p. 257
1880Balaenoptera musculus Van Beneden and Gervais p. 172
1904Balaenoptera indica Trouessart p. 784
1904Balaenoptera musculus Trouessart p. 784
1904Balaenoptera sulfurea Trouessart p. 784
1911Balaenoptera musculus Thomas p. 156
1912Balaenoptera musculus Turner p. 31
1912Balaenoptera sibbaldi Turner p. 39
1922Balaenoptera musculus Oliver p. 561
1963Balaenoptera musculus Scheffer and Rice p. 9
1966Balaenoptera brevicauda Ichihara
1977Balaenoptera musculus Barnes p. 323 figs. Table 1
1991Balaenoptera musculus Vidal p. 6
1998Balaenoptera musculus Rice p. 77
1999Balaenoptera musculus Bergqvist et al. p. 31
2005Balaenoptera musculus Mead and Brownell p. 725
2008Balaenoptera musculus Agnarsson and May-Collado p. 981 figs. Fig. 5
2011Balaenoptera musculus Marx p. 83 figs. Figure 2
2012Rorqualus musculus Hassanin et al. p. 43 figs. Fig. 1
2014Balaenoptera musculus Tsai et al. p. 86
2015Balaenoptera musculus Gol'din and Steeman p. 13 figs. Figure 10
2015Balaenoptera musculus Marx and Fordyce p. 4 figs. Figure 2
2023Balaenoptera musculus Govender and Marx p. 5

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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
RankNameAuthor
—Cladotheria
—Zatheria
subclassTribosphenida()
subclassTheria
—Eutheria()
—Placentalia
—Boreoeutheria
—Laurasiatheria
—Scrotifera
—Euungulata
—Artiodactylamorpha
—Artiodactyla()
—Whippomorpha
orderCetacea
—Pelagiceti
—Neoceti
suborderMysticeti
—Chaeomysticeti()
—Balaenomorpha
superfamilyThalassotherii
familyBalaenopteridae
genusBalaenoptera
speciesmusculus()

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.

Balaenoptera musculus Linnaeus 1758 [blue whale]
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Invalid names: Balaenoptera australis Gray 1846 [synonym], Balaenoptera brevicauda Ichihara 1966 [synonym], Balaenoptera indica Blyth 1842 [synonym], Balaenoptera intermedia Burmeister 1871 [synonym], Balaenoptera jubartes Lacépède 1804 [synonym], Balaenoptera sulfureus Cope 1869 [synonym], Cuvierius latirostris Flower 1864 [synonym], Physalus sibbaldii Gray 1847 [synonym], Sibbaldius antarcticus Burmeister 1865 [synonym], Sibbaldius sulfureus Scammon and Cope 1869 [synonym], Sibbaldus borealis Gray 1864 [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: 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: Uhen 2004, Nowak 1991

Age range: base of the Messinian to the top of the Holocene or 7.24600 to 0.00000 Ma

Collections (16 total)


Time interval Ma Country or state Original ID and collection number
Neogene23.04 - 2.58South Africa Balaenoptera musculus (230122)
Messinian - Early/Lower Pleistocene7.246 - 0.774Netherlands Balaenoptera musculus (189573)
Early/Lower Pleistocene2.58 - 0.774Netherlands Balaenoptera musculus (189574)
Calabrian1.8 - 0.774Italy Balaenoptera musculus (126555)
Late/Upper Pleistocene0.129 - 0.0117Brazil Balaenoptera sp. (54181)
Late/Upper Pleistocene0.129 - 0.0117United Kingdom (Scotland) Balaenoptera sibbaldi (224259)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Denmark Balaenoptera musculus (159726)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0New Caledonia Balaenoptera musculus (83460)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Japan Balaenoptera musculus (82088)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0United Kingdom (Scotland) Balaena musculus (type locality: 86927) Balaenoptera musculus (224261)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Norway Balaenoptera musculus (237909)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Mexico (Baja California) Balaenoptera musculus (201786)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0United Arab Emirates Balaenoptera musculus (81670)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0United Kingdom (England) Balaenoptera musculus (238902)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Brazil (Sao Paulo) Balaenoptera musculus (193948)