Fossils found in Hokkaido more than a decade ago have recently been identified as belonging to a previously unknown type of right whale. "Scrutiny soon revealed the skeleton belonged to a new type of whale," according to a research article published in Palaeontologia Electronica, a British academic journal, earlier this month. The team called the whale "Megabalaena sapporoensis," or "big right whale of Sapporo." Megabalaena sapporoensis was determined as a new species also due to its distinguishing bone shapes. Because no right whale fossils dating back 16 million to 6 million years had been excavated, the latest discovery will greatly contribute to solving the mystery of the whale family's evolution, the team says.