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{{Short description|Obsolete family of mammals}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Tortonian|Recent}}
| image = Caperea marginata 3.png
| image_caption = [[Pygmy right whale]] ''Caperea marginata''
| taxon = Neobalaenidae
| authority = Miller, 1923
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision =
* ''[[Caperea]]'' <small>Gray 1873</small>
* †''[[Miocaperea]]'' <small>Bisconti 2012</small>
}}

'''Neobalaenidae''' is a defunct [[family (taxonomy)|family]] of [[baleen whale]]s (suborder [[Mysticeti]]) including the extant pygmy right whale. Although traditionally considered related to balaenids, recent studies by Fordyce and Marx (2013) and Ludovic Dutoit and colleagues (2023) have recovered the living [[pygmy right whale]] as a member of [[Cetotheriidae]], making it the only extant cetotheriid. Not all authors agree with this placement.

==Taxonomy==
The family Neobalaenidae was long restricted to the pygmy right whale from the Southern Hemisphere due to the unusual skeletal form of the species relative to other extant mysticetes.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267198543|author=Bouetel V, de Muizon C. |year=2006|title= The anatomy and relationships of ''Piscobalaena nana'' (Cetacea, Mysticeti), a Cetotheriidae s.s. from the early Pliocene of Peru|journal= Geodiversitas |volume=28|pages= 319–395}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00313.x|author=Steeman M.E.|year= 2007|title= Cladistic analysis and a revised classification of fossil and recent mysticetes|journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society|volume=150|issue=4|pages=875–894|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263174405|title=The systematics of right whales (Mysticeti: Balaenidae)|year=2012|doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.2011.00504.x|last1=Churchill|first1=Morgan|last2=Berta|first2=Annalisa|last3=Deméré|first3=Thomas|journal=Marine Mammal Science|volume=28|issue=3|pages=497–521|bibcode=2012MMamS..28..497C }}</ref> Until the early 2010s Neobalaenidae was unknown from the fossil record despite a study by Sasaki et al. (2005) placing the divergence date of Neobalaenidae from other living baleen whales at 23 mya.<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=15805012|doi=10.1080/10635150590905939|title=Mitochondrial Phylogenetics and Evolution of Mysticete Whales|year=2005|last1=Sasaki|first1=Takeshi|last2=Nikaido|first2=Masato|last3=Hamilton|first3=Healy|last4=Goto|first4=Mutsuo|last5=Kato|first5=Hidehiro|last6=Kanda|first6=Naohisa|last7=Pastene|first7=Luis A.|last8=Cao|first8=Ying|last9=Fordyce|first9=R. Ewan|last10=Hasegawa|first10=Masami|last11=Okada|first11=Norihiro|journal=Systematic Biology|volume=54|issue=1|pages=77–90|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Fordyce and Marx found that the pygmy right whale formed a well-supported clade with Eschrichtiidae and Balaenopteridae based on molecular data, and that, within 'cetotheres', it was most closely related to the herpetocetines (''[[Herpetocetus]]'' and ''[[Nannocetus]]''), rendering the pygmy right whale the only living species of Cetotheriidae.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The pygmy right whale ''Caperea marginata'': the last of the cetotheres| year=2013| doi=10.1098/rspb.2012.2645|pmc= 3574355|pmid=23256199| last1=Fordyce| first1=R. Ewan| last2=Marx| first2=Felix G.| journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences| volume=280| issue=1753}}</ref> Around the same time, Bisconti had described the first pygmy right whale from the fossil record, ''[[Miocaperea]]'', from the [[Pisco Formation]] of Peru.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Bisconti, M. |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00862.x|title= Comparative osteology and phylogenetic relationships of ''Miocaperea pulchra'', the first fossil pygmy right whale genus and species (Cetacea, Mysticeti, Neobalaenidae)|journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society|year=2012|volume=166|issue=4|pages=876–911|doi-access=free}}</ref> Bisconti, however, found, based on morphological data, it to be more closely related to [[Balaenidae]] (the bowhead and right whales), but added that additional specimens are expected to resolve these conflicting results within a few years.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Taxonomic revision of ''Isocetus depauwi'' (Mammalia, Cetacea, Mysticeti) and the phylogenetic relationships of archaic "cetothere" mysticetes|year=2013|doi=10.1111/j.1475-4983.2012.01168.x|last1=Bisconti|first1=Michelangelo|last2=Lambert|first2=Olivier|last3=Bosselaers|first3=Mark|journal=Palaeontology|volume=56|issue=1 |pages=95–127|doi-access=free|bibcode=2013Palgy..56...95B }}</ref> Cladistic analyses by Gol'din and Steeman partly agreed with Fordyce and Marx in recovering neobalaenids as closer to cetotheres than to Balaenidae, but disagreed with their recovery of the pygmy right whale as a herpetocetine, instead recovering Neobalaenidae outside Cetotheriidae.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0135500|title= From problem taxa to problem solver: a new miocene family, tranatocetidae, brings perspective on baleen whale evolution|year= 2015|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281447624|doi-access= free|last1= Gol'Din|first1= Pavel|last2= Steeman|first2= Mette Elstrup|journal= PLOS ONE|volume= 10|issue= 9|article-number= e0135500|pmid= 26331471|pmc= 4558012|bibcode= 2015PLoSO..1035500G}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Gol'din P.|title=New Paratethyan dwarf baleen whales mark the origin of cetotheres|journal=PeerJ|year=2018|volume=6|article-number=e5800|doi=10.7717/peerj.5800|pmid=30356949|pmc=6193469 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Fossil record==
Examples of Neobalaenidae in the fossil record include ''Miocaperea'', a couple of indeterminate earbones from Australia (one similar to ''Caperea''),<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/02724634.2012.669803|author=Fitzgerald, E.M.G. |title= Possible neobalaenid from the Miocene of Australia implies a long evolutionary history for the pygmy right whale ''Caperea marginata'' (Cetacea, Mysticeti)|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |year=2012 |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=976–980 |bibcode=2012JVPal..32..976F |s2cid=83784488 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title= A Miocene pygmy right whale fossil from Australia| year=2018| doi=10.7717/peerj.5025| last1=Marx| first1=Felix G.| last2=Park| first2=Travis| last3=Fitzgerald| first3=Erich M.G.| last4=Evans| first4=Alistair R.| journal=PeerJ| volume=6| article-number=e5025| pmid=29942692| pmc=6016540| doi-access=free}}</ref> and specimens from Pleistocene localities in the Northern Hemisphere.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Northern pygmy right whales highlight Quaternary marine mammal exchange|year=2017|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2017.08.056|pmid=29017038|last1=Tsai|first1=C. H.|last2=Collareta|first2=A.|author3=Fitzgerald EMG|last4=Marx|first4=F. G.|last5=Kohno|first5=N.|last6=Bosselaers|first6=M.|last7=Insacco|first7=G.|last8=Reitano|first8=A.|last9=Catanzariti|first9=R.|last10=Oishi|first10=M.|last11=Bianucci|first11=G.|journal=Current Biology|volume=27|issue=19|pages=R1058–R1059|s2cid=23877418|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Cetacea}}
{{Portal bar|Cetaceans|Mammals}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q9049302}}

[[Category:Baleen whales]]
[[Category:Mammal families]]
[[Category:Extant Tortonian first appearances]]

Neobalaenidae - Revision history

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