PaleoDB taxon number: 42977
Synonym: Palaeocetidae Seeley 1865 (taxon 64594)
Full reference: J. E. Gray. 1864. Notes on the Whalebone-Whales; with a Synopsis of the Species. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History 14:345-353
Parent taxon: Thalassotherii according to M. Bisconti et al. 2019
Sister taxa: Aglaocetidae, Diorocetidae, Isocetus, Pelocetidae
Subtaxa: Agaphelinae, Archaebalaenoptera, Balaena affinis, Balaena definata, Balaena emarginata, Balaena gibbosa, Balaenoptera, Balaenoptera borealina, Balaenoptera musculoides, Balaenoptera portisii, Balaenoptera rostratella, Balaenoptera sibbaldina, Balaenoptera taiwanica, Balaenopterinae, Cetotheriophanes, Delphinus brachyspondylus, Diunatans, Eobalaenoptera, Eschrichtiinae, Fragilicetus, Hadrosaurus tripos, Incakujira, Megaptera, Megaptera affinis, Megapterinae, Megapteropsis robusta, Miobalaenoptera, Nehalaennia, Notiocetus, Parabalaenopterinae, Plesiobalaenoptera, Plesiocetus, Praemegaptera, Praemegapterinae, Protororqualus
Ecology: aquatic suspension feeder