''Archaebalaenoptera'' is a genus of extinct rorqual known from late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and Peru.

Classification

The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

, ''A. castriarquati'', was discovered in 1983 from the sediments of the late Pliocene ( Piacenzian) Castell’Arquato Formation in northern Italy.M. Bisconti. 2007. A new basal balaenopterid whale from the Pliocene of northern Italy. ''Palaeontology'' 50(5):1103-1122 A

cladistic analysis Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived chara ...

of Balaenopteridae recovered ''Archaebalaenoptera'' as one of if not the most primitive rorqual. A second ''Archaebalaenoptera'' species, ''A. liesselensis'', is known from the late Miocene (late

Tortonian The Tortonian is in the geologic time scale an age or stage of the late Miocene that spans the time between 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma and 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago). It follows the Serravallian and is followed by the Messinian. The Torto ...

) Breda Formation near Liessel, in the Netherlands while an unnamed species is known from Peru. ''A. liesselensis'' differs from the type species and the unnamed Peruvian species in being larger.Bisconti M, Munsterman DK, Fraaije RHB, Bosselaers MEJ, Post K. 2020. A new species of rorqual whale (Cetacea, Mysticeti, Balaenopteridae) from the Late Miocene of the Southern North Sea Basin and the role of the North Atlantic in the paleobiogeography of Archaebalaenoptera. PeerJ 8:e8315 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8315 Archaebalaenoptera_liesselensis

Paleobiology

The primitive morphology of the jaw suggests that ''Archaebalaenoptera'' probably was not capable of

ram feeding Aquatic feeding mechanisms face a special difficulty as compared to feeding on land, because the density of water is about the same as that of the prey, so the prey tends to be pushed away when the mouth is closed. This problem was first identifi ...

like living rorquals and humpback whales.

References

Fossil taxa described in 2007 Prehistoric mammals of Europe Miocene cetaceans Pliocene cetaceans Prehistoric cetacean genera Baleen whales {{Paleo-whale-stub