Balaenoptera Temporal range:
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Fin whale | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Infraorder: | Cetacea |
Family: | Balaenopteridae |
Genus: | Balaenoptera Lacépède, 1758 |
Type species | |
Balaenoptera gibbar [1] Linnaeus, 1758
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Species | |
Balaenoptera (from Latin balaena 'whale' and Ancient Greek πτερά (pterá) 'fin') is a genus of rorquals containing eight extant species.[2] Balaenoptera comprises all but two of the extant species in its family (the humpback whale and gray whale); the genus is currently polyphyletic, with the two aforementioned species being phylogenetically nested within it.[3]
This genus is known in the fossil records from the Neogene to the Quaternary (13.65 million years ago to the present).[4]