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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Balaenoptera

Balaenoptera \Balaenoptera\ n. the type genus of the Balaenopteridae.

Syn: genus Balaenoptera.

Wikipedia
Balaenoptera

Balaenoptera, from the Latin balaena (whale) and pteron (fin), is a genus of Balaenopteridae, the rorquals, and contains eight extant species. The species Balaenoptera omurai was published in 2003. Balaenoptera is a diverse genus and comprises all but one of the extant species in its family - the other species is the humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae.

This genus is known in the fossil records from the Neogene to the Quaternary (age range: from 13.65 to 0.0 million years ago).

Usage examples of "balaenoptera".

Linnaeus is responsible for naming the humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae, or "big wings of New England," and later naming the blue whale Balaenoptera musculus, or "little mouse": at 110 feet long, over a hundred tons, an animal whose tongue alone is larger than a full-grown African elephant -- the largest animal to ever live on the planet.