A comprehensive revision of the localities of discovery of fossil mysticetes is presented together with a highly inclusive phylogenetic analysis in order to provide the basis for a chronology of the main mysticete diversification events. The results suggest that the origin of Mysticeti (that include earlier toothed taxa together with today baleen-bearing cetaceans) occurred c. 38 Ma; the origin of Chaeomysticeti (that include only baleen-bearing cetaceans) occurred c. 28 Ma; the origin of Balaenomorpha (crown mysticetes) occurred c. 23.3 Ma. Additional chronological inferences are provided. Within this chronological framework, we analyzed diversity trends, origination and extinction patterns and body size evolution, and looked for eventual causal relationships between evolutionary processes, marine and terrestrial ecological turnovers and geodynamic events. We found four main diversification events corresponding to peaks in originations and, in a few cases, with the origin of different feeding strategies adopted by the differen mysticete families. We found that different mechanisms are correlated to specific diversification events and these include changes in temperature and ocean circulation patterns, nutrient availability in the water column and diatom abundance and diversity. Resuming, no single mechanism explains all the diversification events occurred during mysticete evolution; rather, we found that each diversification event was correlated to different combinations of biotic and abiotic factors, suggesting that this group experienced major adaptation processes to the changing paleoenvironments in the last 38 Ma.

对 mysticetes 化石发现地点的全面修订与高度包容的系统发育分析一起提出，以便为主要 mysticetes 多样化事件的年表提供基础。结果表明 Mysticeti 的起源（包括早期的齿类群和今天的须鲸鲸类）发生在c. 38毫安; Chaeomysticeti（仅包括长须鲸类）的起源发生在c。28毫安; Balaenomorpha (crown mysticetes)的起源发生在c。23.3 马。提供了额外的时间顺序推论。在这个按时间顺序排列的框架内，我们分析了多样性趋势、起源和灭绝模式以及体型演变，并寻找进化过程、海洋和陆地生态周转和地球动力学事件之间的最终因果关系。我们发现了四个主要的多样化事件，对应于起源高峰，在少数情况下，与不同 mysticete 家族采用的不同喂养策略的起源相对应。我们发现不同的机制与特定的多样化事件相关，其中包括温度和海洋环流模式的变化、水柱中养分的可用性以及硅藻的丰度和多样性。恢复, 没有单一的机制可以解释 mysticete 进化过程中发生的所有多样化事件；相反，我们发现每个多样化事件都与生物和非生物因素的不同组合相关，这表明该群体在过去 38 Ma 经历了对不断变化的古环境的主要适应过程。