4.9 An overview of the species of whales and dolphins (the order Cetacea)
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This article is from the Dolphin
FAQ, by Jaap van der Toorn
4.9 An overview of the species of whales and dolphins (the order Cetacea)
order CETACEA (WHALES AND DOLPHINS)
suborder MYSTICETI (BALEEN WHALES)
family BALAENIDAE (RIGHT WHALES)
Eubalaena glacialis northern right whale
Eubalaena australis southern right whale
Balaena mysticetus bowhead whale
Caperea marginata pygmy right whale
family BALAENOPTERIDAE (FIN WHALES or RORQUAL WHALES)
Balaenoptera musculus blue whale
Balaenoptera physalus fin whale
Balaenoptera borealis sei whale
Balaenoptera edeni Bryde's whale
Balaenoptera acutorostrata minke whale
Megaptera novaeangliae humpback whale
family ESCHRICHTIIDAE (GRAY WHALES)
Eschrichtius robustus gray whale
suborder ODONTOCETI (TOOTHED WHALES)
family PHYSETERIDAE (SPERM WHALES)
Physeter macrocephalus sperm whale
Kogia breviceps pygmy sperm whale
Kogia simus dwarf sperm whale
family ZIPHIIDAE (BEAKED WHALES)
Berardius bairdii Baird's beaked whale
Berardius arnuxii Arnoux' beaked whale
Tasmacetus shepherdi Shepherd's beaked whale
Ziphius cavirostris Cuvier's beaked whale
Hyperoodon ampullatus northern bottlenose whale
Hyperoodon planifrons southern bottlenose whale
Mesoplodon pacificus Longman's beaked whale
Mesoplodon hectori Hector's beaked whale
Mesoplodon mirus True's beaked whale
Mesoplodon europaeus Gervais' beaked whale
Mesoplodon ginkgodens ginkgo-toothed
beaked whale
Mesoplodon grayi Gray's beaked whale
Mesoplodon carlhubbsi Hubbs' beaked whale
Mesoplodon stejnegeri Stejneger's beaked whale
Mesoplodon bowdoini Andrew's beaked whale
Mesoplodon bidens Sowerby's beaked whale
Mesoplodon layardii strap-toothed whale
Mesoplodon densirostris Blainville's beaked whale
Mesoplodon peruvianus Pygmy beaked whale
Mesoplodon traversii 1) spade-toothed whale
= Mesoplodon bahamondi Bahamonde's beaked whale
Mesoplodon perrini 2) Perrin's beaked whale
family DELPHINIDAE (DOLPHINS)
Steno bredanensis rough-toothed dolphin
Sousa chinensis Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphin
Sousa teuszii Atlantic hump-backed
dolphin
Sotalia fluviatilis tucuxi
Tursiops truncatus bottlenose dolphin
Stenella longirostris spinner dolphin
Stenella clymene clymene dolphin
Stenella frontalis Atlantic spotted dolphin
Stenella attenuata pantropical spotted
dolphin
Stenella coeruleoalba striped dolphin
Delphinus delphis common dolphin
Lagenodelphis hosei Fraser's dolphin
Lagenorhynchus albirostris white-beaked dolphin
Lagenorhynchus acutus Atlantic white-sided
dolphin
Lagenorhynchus obliquidens Pacific white-sided
dolphin
Lagenorhynchus obscurus dusky dolphin
Lagenorhynchus australis Peale's dolphin
Lagenorhynchus cruciger hourglass dolphin
Cephalorhynchus commersonii Commerson's dolphin
Cephalorhynchus heavisidii Heaviside's dolphin
Cephalorhynchus eutropia black dolphin
Cephalorhynchus hectori Hector's dolphin
Lissodelphis borealis northern right whale
dolphin
Lissodelphis peronii southern right whale
dolphin
Grampus griseus Risso's dolphin
Peponocephala electra melon-headed whale
Feresa attenuata pygmy killer whale
Pseudorca crassidens false killer whale
Globicephala melaena long-finned pilot whale
Globicephala macrorhynchus short-finned pilot whale
Orcinus orca killer whale
Orcaella brevirostris Irrawaddy dolphin
family MONODONTIDAE (WHITE WHALES)
Delphinapterus leucas beluga, white whale
Monodon monoceros narwhal
family PLATANISTIDAE (RIVER DOLPHINS)
Platanista gangetica Ganges river dolphin
Platanista minor Indus river dolphin
Inia geoffrensis boto, Amazon river
dolphin
Lipotes vexillifer baiji, Yangtze river
dolphin
Pontoporia blainvillei franciscana, La Plata
dolphin
family PHOCOENIDAE (PORPOISES)
Phocoena phocoena harbor porpoise
Phocoena sinus vaquita
Phocoena dioptrica spectacled porpoise
Phocoena spinnipinnis Burmeister's porpoise
Neophocaena phocaenoides finless porpoise
Phocoenoides dalli Dall's porpoise
main source:
M. Klinowksa (1991) Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales of the World The IUCN Red Data Book IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, U.K.
Note: the above list is a commonly used list of cetacean species, but some authors recognize more separate families and species (for instance 2 species of bottlenose dolphins: Tursiops truncatus (bottlenose dolphin) and Tursiops aduncus (Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphin) and 2 or 3 species of common dolphins: Delphinus delphis (shortbeaked common dolphin), Delphinus capensis (longbeaked common dolphin) and Delphinus tropicalis (Arabian common dolphin)).
See for instance:
Dale W. Rice (1999) Marine Mammals of the World - Systematics and Distribution Society for Marine Mammalogy Special Publication 4 Society for Marine Mammalogy, Lawrence, Kansas.
1) Mesoplodon traversii appears to be a senior synonym for M. bahamondi. See: A.L. van Helden, A.N. Baker, M.L. Dalebout, J.C. Reyes, K. van Waerebeek and C.S. Baker (2002) Resurrection of Mesoplodon traversii (Gray, 1874), senior synonym for M. bahamondi Reyes, van Waerebeek, Cárdenas and Yáñez, 1995 (Cetacea: Ziphiidae) Marine Mammal Science 18(3): 609-621
2) New species, recently discovered based on DNA analysis. See: M.L. Dalebout, J.G. Mead, C.S.Baker, A.N. Baker and A.L. van Helden (2002) A new species of beaked whale, Mesoplodon perrini sp. n. (Cetacea: Ziphiidae) discovered through phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences. Marine Mammal Science 18(3): 577-608
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