Protororqualus cuvieri

Protororqualus cuvieri, originally spelled cuvierii, is an extinct rorqual from the late Pliocene (Piacenzian, 3.6 to 2.6 million years ago) of Mount Pulgnasco, Italy, and the type species of the genus Protororqualus. It was first described in 1829 as a species of Balaena, later moved to the Belgian genus Plesiocetus and then to Balaenoptera, and some authors treated it as a Cetotherium, until later work showed the Mount Pulgnasco skeleton was distinct enough to deserve its own genus. A 2007 analysis by Bisconti identified it as a late survivor among primitive rorquals in the Mediterranean. Its dentary is straighter than the bowed dentaries of living rorquals, so it probably could not perform their intermittent ram feeding.