| Description | The pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata) is a member of the cetotheres, a family of baleen whales, which until 2012 were thought to be extinct; previously C. marginata was considered the sole member of the family Neobalaenidae. First described by John Edward Gray in 1846, it is the smallest of the baleen whales, ranging between 6 and 6.5 metres (20 and 21 ft) in length and 3,000 and 3,500 kilograms (6,610 and 7,720 lb) in mass. Despite its name, the pygmy right whale may have more in common with the gray whale and rorquals than the bowhead and right whales.
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| Source Data | |
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| Rank | genus |
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| Taxonomy (GBIF) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Cetacea : Neobalaenidae : Caperea |
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| Taxonomy (PBDB) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Cetacea : Cetotheriidae : Caperea |
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| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted |
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Classification
(PBDB,GBIF) | |
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| Scientific Name | Caperea Gray, 1864 |
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| Name Published In | Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. vol.1864 2 p.202 |
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| Opinions (PBDB) | | Name | Rank | Opinion | Evidence | Author |
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| Caperea | subgenus | belongs to Balaena | stated without evidence | Gray, 1864 | | Caperea | genus | belongs to Balaenidae | stated without evidence | Gray, 1866 | | Caperea | genus | subjective synonym of Balaena | stated without evidence | Brandt, 1873 | | Caperea | genus | belongs to Balaenidae | stated without evidence | Palmer, 1904 | | Caperea | genus | belongs to Balaeninae | stated without evidence | Fraser and Purves, 1960 | | Caperea | genus | belongs to Balaenidae | stated without evidence | Scheffer and Rice, 1963 | | Caperea | genus | belongs to Neobalaenidae | stated without evidence | Rice, 1998 | | Caperea | genus | belongs to Neobalaenidae | stated with evidence | Gol'din and Steeman, 2015 | | Caperea | genus | belongs to Neobalaenidae | stated without evidence | Boessenecker and Fordyce, 2015 | | Caperea | genus | belongs to Neobalaeninae | stated with evidence | Marx and Fordyce, 2015 | | Caperea | genus | belongs to Neobalaenidae | stated without evidence | Berta, 2017 | | Caperea | genus | belongs to Neobalaeninae | stated with evidence | Marx et al., 2018 |
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| Status (PBDB) | extant |
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| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 2 |
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| Extant Size (PBDB) | 2 (100%) |
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| First Recorded Appearance | 7.25 - 5.33 Ma
Miocene |
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| Environment | marine (based on Mysticeti) |
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| Motility | actively mobile (based on Cetacea) |
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| Diet | carnivore, suspension feeder (based on Mysticeti) |
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| Reproduction | viviparous (based on Cetacea) |
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| Ontogeny | modification of parts (based on Cetacea) |
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| Taphonomy | hydroxylapatite (based on Mysticeti) |
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| Primary Reference (PBDB) | J. E. Gray. 1864. On the Cetacea which have been observed in the seas surrounding the British Islands. Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London 1864:195-248 |
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| Common Name(s) | Pygmy Right Whale, Pygmy Right Whales |
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| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caperea |
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| Gray J. E. On the Cetacea which have been observed in the seas surrounding the British Islands, Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London 1864, 195-248 |
| Gray J. E. , Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British Museum, 1-402 |
| Gray J. E. , Synopsis of the species of whales and dolphins in the Collection of the British Museum, 1-10 |
| Brandt J. F. Uber eine neue Classification der Bartenwale (Balaenoidea) mit Berucksichtigung der untergegangenen Gattungen derselben, Bulletin d L'Academie Imperiale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg 26, 113-130 |
| Palmer T. S. (1904) Index generum mammalium: a list of the genera and families of mammals, North American Fauna 23, 1-984 |
| Trouessart E. L. (1904) , Catalogus Mammalium Tam Viventium Quam Fossilium, Fourth Edition, 1-929 |
| Miller G. S. (1923) The telescoping of the cetacean skull, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 76 5, 1-70 |
| Schneider C. O. (1926) Lista preliminar de los mamiferos fosiles de Chile, Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 30, 144-156 |
| Simpson G. G. (1945) The principles of classification and a classification of mammals, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 85, 1-350 |
| Fraser F. C., Purves P. E. (1960) Hearing in Cetaceans, Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) 7 1, 1-140 |
| Scheffer V. B., Rice D. W. (1963) A list of the marine mammals of the world, United States Fish and Wildlife Service Special Scientific Report - Fisheries 431, 1-12 |
| Hershkovitz P. (1966) Catalog of Living Whales, United States National Museum Bulletin 246, 1-259 |
| Rice D. W. (1998) Marine Mammals of the World: Systematics and Distribution, The Society for Marine Mammalogy Special Publication 4, 1-231 |
| Mead J. G., Brownell R. L. (2005) Order Cetacea, Mammalian Species of the World, 723-743 |
| Bouetel V., Muizon C. (2006) The anatomy and relationships of Piscobalaena nanna (Cetacea, Mysticeti), a Cetotheriidae s.s. from the early Pliocene of Peru, Geodiversitas 28 2, 319-395 |
| Steeman M. E. (2007) Cladistic analysis and a revised classification of fossil and recent mysticetes, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 150, 875-894 |
| Agnarsson I., May-Collado L. J. (2008) The phylogeny of Cetartiodactyla: The importance of dense taxon sampling, missing data, and the remarkable promise of cytochrome b to provide reliable species-level phylogenies, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 48, 964-985 |
| Geisler J. H., McGowen M. R., et al (2011) A supermatrix analysis of genomic, morphological, and paleontological data from crown Cetacea, BMC Evolutionary Biology 11 112, 1-33 |
| Boessenecker R. W., Fordyce R. E. (2015) A new genus and species of eomysticetid (Cetacea: Mysticeti) and a reinterpretation of ‘Mauicetus’ lophocephalus Marples, 1956: Transitional baleen whales from the upper Oligocene of New Zealand, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society doi:10.1111/zoj.12297 |
| Gol'din P., Steeman M. E. (2015) From problem taxa to problem solver: A new Miocene family, Tranatocetidae, brings perspective on baleen whale evolution, PLoS One 10 9, e0135500 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0135500 |
| Marx F. G., Fordyce R. E. (2015) Baleen boom and bust: a synthesis of mysticete phylogeny, diversity and disparity, Royal Society Open Science 2, 140434 doi:10.1098/rsos.140434 |
| Marx F. G., Bosselaers M. E. J., et al (2016) A new species of Metopocetus (Cetacea, Mysticeti, Cetotheriidae) from the Late Miocene of the Netherlands, PeerJ 4, e1572 doi:10.7717/peerj.1572 |
| Marx F. G., Lambert O., et al (2016) Cetacean Paleobiology, 1-319 |
| Berta A. (2017) , The Rise of Marine Mammals: 50 Million Years of Evolution, 1-198 |
| Gol'din P. (2018) New Paratethyan dwarf baleen whales mark the origin of cetotheres, PeerJ 6, e5800 doi:10.7717/ peerj.5800 |
| Marx F. G., Park T., et al (2018) A Miocene pygmy right whale fossil from Australia, PeerJ 6, e5025 doi:10.7717/peerj.5025 |
| Shirihai, H. (2002). A complete guide to Antarctic Wildlife: the Birds and Marine Mammals of the Antarctic Continent and the Southern Ocean. Alula Press FI 510 pp. - via World Register of Marine Species |
| Aphia2006 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| Nomenclator Zoologicus. A list of the names of genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus, 1758 to the end of 2004. Digitised by uBio from vols. 1-9 of Neave (ed.), 1939-1996 plus supplementary digital-only volume. http://ubio.org/NomenclatorZoologicus (as at 2006). - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| SN2000/McKenna & Bell, 1997 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. (editors). (2005). Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd Ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 2,142 pp. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| WoRMS (Mar 2013) - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| Neave, Sheffield Airey. (1939-1996). Nomenclator Zoologicus vol. 1-10 Online. [developed by uBio, hosted online at MBLWHOI Library]. - via World Register of Marine Species |
| SN2000/McKenna & Bell, 1997, PaleoDB - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| Mead, James G., and Robert L. Brownell, Jr. / Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds., 2005: Order Cetacea. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 3rd ed., vol. 1. 723-743. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) |
| Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds., 1992: null. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 2nd ed., 3rd printing. xviii + 1207. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) |
| Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, and A. L. Gardner, 1987: Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada. Resource Publication, no. 166. 79. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) |
| Rice, Dale W., 1998: Marine Mammals of the World: Systematics and Distribution. Special Publications of the Society for Marine Mammals, no. 4. ix + 231. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) |
Caperea
