Eschrichtiidae Temporal range:
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Infraorder: | Cetacea |
Parvorder: | Mysticeti |
Family: | Eschrichtiidae Ellerman & Morrison-Scott 1951 |
Genera | |
Synonyms | |
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Eschrichtiidae or the gray whales is a family of baleen whale (Parvorder Mysticeti) with a single extant species, the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), as well as four described fossil genera: Archaeschrichtius (Miocene), Glaucobalaena and Eschrichtioides (Pliocene) from Italy,[1][2] and Gricetoides from the Pliocene of North Carolina.[3] Some phylogenetic studies have found this family to be invalid, with its members nesting inside of the clade Balaenopteridae.[4][5] The names of the extant genus and the family honours Danish zoologist Daniel Eschricht.[6]