There is a new paper on dolphin molecular phylogeny: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790320300282
The paper shows that:
1. Burrunan dolphin is not a valid species (but a good subspecies).
2. Genera Stenella, Delphinus and Lagenodelphis should be lumped (Delphinus has priority). This actually has been clear for some time, but here’s another confirmation.
3. The authors say Tursiops should be kept as separate genus because it’s monophyletic, but I think it should be also subsumed into Delphinus, considering the long history of hybridization.
Related Articles
-
New Trip Report: Japan & Korea
Jon Hall, , General Mammal Watching, 0
Korea and Japan, 2015: Romain Bocquier, 7 weeks & 17 species including, in Japan, Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel, Birdlike Noctule, Japanese Serow and Asiatic...
-
Visiting Grand Tetons
Charles Foley, , General Mammal Watching, 6
Hi all, Next week I’ll be visiting the Grand Tetons for a number of days. I’m particularly keen to...
-
Forillon National, QC Canada Trip Report August 2018
jvnmammals, , General Mammal Watching, 1
My wife and I spent a week in Forillon NP. This was not a hard-core mammal trip but we...
-
Brief Scotland update
mikehoit, , General Mammal Watching, 0
Hi all I made a whistlestop tour of various places in Scotland last weekend so thought I’d provide a short report...
-
February-March trips
vdinets, , General Mammal Watching, 0
An update on guided mammalwatching trips this winter: – The trips to Vietnam and Sichuan are re-scheduled to either...
-
Central Kalahari Game Reserve
vdinets, , General Mammal Watching, 0
The discussion of South African goodies reminded me that there is a wonderful place in Botswana that most mammalwatchers...
-
New data on wolf pack locations in Wisconsin
heavenlyjane, , General Mammal Watching, 0
This website links to newly posted reports and maps on how wolves are expanding their populations throughout Wisconsin. http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/WildlifeHabitat/wolf/index.html...
-
Wesbite problems …. sorry
Jon Hall, , General Mammal Watching, 0
If anyone has been looking at the country pages on mammalwatching.com and wondering where the list of trip repors...
Subscribe to mammalwatching.com
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- wildlife_watcher on Has anyone been to the Galapagos?
- Pictus Safaris on Aardvark in Zambia/ Zimbabwe
- Alvaro Jaramillo on Has anyone been to the Galapagos?
- Alex Meyer on Has anyone been to the Galapagos?
- Greg Easton on Has anyone been to the Galapagos?
One thing to note however is that this paper is very very focused on Tursiops, with limited sampling of other relevant taxa, including no Sousa and not all Stenella species. So while all of these taxa (with the exception of Lagenodelphis perhaps) be lumped into Delphinus, I am skeptical we will get much more movement on the area.
Although with more sampling, it wouldn’t surprise me if Lagenodelphis remains valid. Morphologically it is distinct and prior phylogenetic analyses place it as the most basal species within the clade.
I had an undergraduate student a few summers ago that looked at how distinct the skulls of the different dolphins in this subfamily were from one another, using morphometrics. Samples sizes were limited for most species, but Delphinus and Stenella did show a lot of overlap, with Tursiops being very distinct. Need to revisit that project again once I increase my sample sizes.