Editing Eschrichtiidae (section)

==Taxonomy==
In his morphological analysis, {{Harvnb|Bisconti|2008}} found that eschrichtiids and [[Cetotheriidae]] (''[[Cetotherium]]'', ''[[Mixocetus]]'' and ''[[Metopocetus]]'') form a monophyletic sister group of [[Balaenopteridae]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Bisconti|2008|loc=Results, pp. 173–174}}</ref>

A specimen from the [[Late Pliocene]] of [[Northern Italy]], named ''"[[Cetotherium]]" gastaldii'' by {{Harvnb|Strobel|1875}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Strobel|1875|p=136}}</ref> and renamed ''"Balaenoptera" gastaldii'' by {{Harvnb|Portis|1885}}, was identified as a basal eschrichtiid by {{Harvnb|Bisconti|2008}} who recombined it to ''[[Eschrichtioides|Eschrichtioides gastaldii]]''.<ref name="PyeLin-fossils">{{Harvnb|Pyenson|Lindberg|2011|loc=Fossil record of gray whales}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Deméré|Berta|McGowen|2005|pp=119–120}}</ref>

{{Harvnb|Steeman|Hebsgaard|Fordyce|Ho|2009}} found that the gray whale is phylogenetically distinct from rorquals and that previous morphological studies were correct in the conclusion that the evolution of gulp feeding was a single event in the rorqual lineage.<ref>{{Harvnb|Steeman|Hebsgaard|Fordyce|Ho|2009|p=580}}</ref> In contrast, multiple later studies found the gray whale to fall within the family Balaenopteridae, being more derived than the [[minke whale]]s but basal to all other members in the family, and reclassified it in Balaenopteridae; the [[American Society of Mammalogists]] has followed this classification.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Árnason|first1=Úlfur|last2=Lammers|first2=Fritjof|last3=Kumar|first3=Vikas|last4=Nilsson|first4=Maria A.|last5=Janke|first5=Axel|year=2018|title=Whole-genome sequencing of the blue whale and other rorquals finds signatures for introgressive gene flow|journal=[[Science Advances]]|volume=4|issue=4|pages=eaap9873|bibcode=2018SciA....4.9873A|doi=10.1126/sciadv.aap9873|pmc=5884691|pmid=29632892}}</ref>