Plesiobalaenoptera

Plesiobalaenoptera is a genus of extinct rorqual which existed in Italy during the late Miocene epoch. The type species is P. quarantellii. It is the oldest known rorqual from the Mediterranean basin. Fossils have been found from sediments of the Stirone River in Northern Italy that were deposited during the Tortonian age, around 11 to 7 million years ago.

Plesiobalaenoptera

Michelangelo Bisconti, Gianluca Raineri, Giandonato Tartarelli, Paola Monegatti & Giorgio Carnevale · CC BY 4.0 · 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
BalaenopteridaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Balaenopteridae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Mysticeti
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mysticeti

Time the record covers

At least 1.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 5.333 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 7 occurrencesMiocene — about 3 of 7 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 7 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 7 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.9–9.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.2–8.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.5–7.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.1–6.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.4–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–4.9 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.5–2.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.246 Mya – 5.333 Mya23.5 Mya2.1 Mya

7 occurrences of Plesiobalaenoptera on record. 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

7 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

4 formations

Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ECoquimbo — 29.97°S, 71.37°WBredasdorp & Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.12°EAlexander Bay — 30.32°S, 17.29°E

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The named rock units Plesiobalaenoptera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

194 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 7 sites for Plesiobalaenoptera, 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

5 references

Each of the 7 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. 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 content1

Picture of Plesiobalaenoptera

Credit
Michelangelo Bisconti, Gianluca Raineri, Giandonato Tartarelli, Paola Monegatti & Giorgio Carnevale
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Plesiobalaenoptera was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itBalaenopteridae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bisconti 2010