Maiabalaena
Name:
Maiabalaena
(Mother baleen whale).
Phonetic: My-ah-bah-le-nah.
Named By: C. M. Peredo, N. D. Pyenson,
C. D. Marshall & M. D. Uhen - 2018.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia,
Artiodactyla, Cetacea.
Species: M. nesbittae
(type).
Diet: Piscivore?/suction feeder.
Size: Skull roughly about 1.2 meters long.
Known locations: USA, Oregon - Alsea Formation.
Time period: Rupelian of the Oligocene.
Fossil representation: Partial skull.
Maiabalaena
is a genus of whale
that lived in waters around North America during
the Oligocene period. Maiabalaena is noted for
having neither teeth
nor baleen, with the genus describers postulating that whales may
have lost teeth before developing baleen. Maiabalaena
is thought to
have been a suction feeder, opening its mouth wide and fast so that
the vacuum created sucks in any nearby fish or other aquatic organisms
into the mouth.
Further reading
- Tooth loss precedes the origin of baleen in whales. Current
Biology 28:1-9. - C. M. Peredo, N. D. Pyenson, C.
D. Marshall & M. D. Uhen - 2018.
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