Parietobalaena

Parietobalaena is an extinct genus of baleen whale, belonging to the family Pelocetidae. Fossils are found in Miocene-aged marine strata in North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan, including the Temblor and Itahashi formations. Based on previous estimates of juvenile specimens, Tsai (2017) suggested a body size of 12-15 m for P. yamaokai, akin to that of the gray whale.

Parietobalaena

Ryan Somma · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CetotherioideaPBDB
Diet
carnivore, suspension feederPBDB, for Mysticeti
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Mysticeti
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mysticeti

Time the record covers

At least 4.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.63 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 35 occurrencesMiocene — about 35 of 35 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 35 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 35 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 5 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 5 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.9–9.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.2–8.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences8.5–7.8 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.1–6.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.4–5.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.7–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15.98 Mya11.63 Mya23.5 Mya2.1 Mya

35 occurrences of Parietobalaena on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

35 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

13 formations

Calvert — 38.58°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.17°N, 76.87°WCalvert — 38.61°N, 76.67°WCalvert — 38.50°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WGroote Heide — 52.04°N, 6.67°EBerchem — 51.22°N, 4.46°EBerchem — 51.15°N, 4.63°EBerchem — 51.19°N, 4.44°ENagura — 36.02°N, 139.01°EBreda — 51.97°N, 6.72°EBreda — 52.15°N, 6.61°EItahashi — 34.86°N, 133.00°EDeist — 51.19°N, 4.46°EKorematsu — 34.87°N, 133.01°ETemblor — 35.30°N, 118.50°WGlenforslan — 34.21°S, 139.69°ERosarito Beach — 32.12°N, 116.80°WTorgugas — 27.15°N, 114.30°WDiest — 51.22°N, 4.46°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Parietobalaena has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Parietobalaena and its relatives

Miocene

Where Parietobalaena and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

359 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 28 sites for Parietobalaena, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

18 references

Each of the 35 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 6 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Parietobalaena

Credit
Ryan Somma
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Parietobalaena palmeri · usnm:paleobiology:517872

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCetotherioidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Kellogg 1924