The family Cetotheriidae and the genusCetotherium (sensu lato) have been used aswastebaskets for all kinds of baleen whales, most notably byBrandt 1873, Spassky (1954) andMčedlidze 1970. Based on more recent phylogenetic studies and revisions of many 19th century genera, much smaller monophyletic Cetotheriidae andCetotheriumsensu stricto is limited to a single or only a few species. For example,Gol'din, Startsev & Krakhmalnaya 2013 included onlyC. rathkii andC. riabinini in the genus and only ten genera in the family.[3]
Cetotheriidae were thought to have gone extinct during the Pliocene until 2012, when it was hypothesized that thepygmy right whale was the sole surviving species of this family.[4]
The following species were originally described as nominal species ofCetotherium but have been either reassigned to other genera or removed fromCetotherium:
Cetotherium furlongi Kellogg, 1925,[5] is known from a partial skull from theBurdigalian of the Vaqueros Formation inCalifornia, but the holotype is lost.[6]
Cetotherium gastaldii Strobel, 1875,[7] known from the early Pliocene-age Sabbie d'Asti Formation of thePiedmont region in Italy, is now the type species of theeschrichtiid genusEschrichtioides.[8]
Cetotherium klinderi Brandt, 1871,[9] is known from an isolated earbone from Miocene sediments inChişinău,Moldova. Although fragmentary, it is not congeneric with the two species ofCetotherium.[3][10]
Cetotherium maicopicum Spasski, 1951,[11] based on a specimen from the lateMiocene of the RussianCaucasus, was reassigned to the genusKurdalagonus from the same region in 2012, although Gol'din and Startsev (2016) have questioned this referral.[12][10]
Cetotherium mayeri Brandt, 1871,[9] known from a partial skeleton, has been reassigned toMithridatocetus.[3][10]
Cetotherium incertum Brandt, 1873, known from a vertebra, and"Ziphius" priscus Eichwald, 1840 arenomina dubia, whileCetotherium pusillum Nordmann, 1860 requires re-assessment.[10]
Cetotheres came into existence during theOligocene epoch. The cetotheres have been divided into two sub-groups. One group includesCetotherium. From an evolutionary perspective, these whales share some characteristics of theBalaenopteridae andEschrichtiidae.[13]
^Strobel, P (1875). "Notizie preliminari su le Balenoptere fossili subappennine del Museo parmense".Bollettino del R. Comitato Geologico d'Italia (in Italian).5 (6):131–140.
^abBrandt, J. F. 1871. Bericht uber den Fortgang meiner Studien uber di Cetaceen, welche das grosse zur Tertiarzeit von Mitteleuropa bis Centralasien hinein ausgedehnte Meeresbechen bevolkerten. Bulletin de l'Académie Impériale de Saint-Pétersbourg 16: 563–566.
^abcdGol'din, Pavel; Startsev, Dmitry (2016). "A systematic review of cetothere baleen whales (Cetacea, Cetotheriidae) from the Late Miocene of Crimea and Caucasus, with a new genus".Papers in Palaeontology.3:49–68.doi:10.1002/spp2.1066.S2CID88690543.
^P. I. Spasski. 1951. Ostaki tsetoheriev iz Servernogo Kavkaza (okr. g. Maikopa) Remains of cetotheria from the Northern Caucasus in the neighborhood of Maikop Town. Izvestia Akademii Nauk Azerbaidzhanskoi SSR 2:57-65
^Tarasenko, K. K.; Lopatin, A. V. (2012). "New Baleen Whale Genera (Cetacea, Mammalia) from the Miocene of the Northern Caucasus and Ciscaucasia: 1. Kurdalagonus gen. nov. from the Middle–Late Sarmatian of Adygea".Paleontological Journal.46 (5):531–542.doi:10.1134/s0031030112050115.S2CID85334152.
Barry Cox, Colin Harrison, R.J.G. Savage, and Brian Gardiner. (1999): The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures: A Visual Who's Who of Prehistoric Life. Simon & Schuster.
Berta, Annalisa; Deméré, Thomas (2008)."Mysticetes, Evolution"(PDF). In Perrin, William F.; Würsig, Bernd; Thewissen, J. G. M. (eds.).Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Academic Press. pp. 751–752.ISBN978-0-12-373553-9.
