Published online today in Marine Mammal Science (early view)
Genetic structure of the beaked whale genus Berardius in the North Pacific,
with genetic evidence for a new species
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.12345/abstract>
Phillip A. Morin, C. Scott Baker, Reid S. Brewer, Alexander M. Burdin, Merel L.
Dalebout, James P. Dines, Ivan Fedutin, Olga Filatova, Erich Hoyt, Jean-Luc
Jung, Morgane Lauf, Charles W. Potter, Gaetan Richard, Michelle Ridgway, Kelly
M. Robertson and Paul R. Wade
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1748-7692/earlyview
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1748-7692/earlyview>
There are two recognized species in the genus Berardius, Baird’s and Arnoux’s
beaked whales. In Japan, whalers have traditionally recognized two forms of
Baird’s beaked whales, the common “slate-gray” form and a smaller, rare “black”
form. Previous comparison of mtDNA control region sequences from three black
specimens to gray specimens around Japan indicated that the two forms comprise
different stocks and potentially different species.We have expanded sampling to
include control region haplotypes of 178 Baird’s beaked whales from across
their range in the North Pacific. We identified five additional specimens of
the black form from the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea, for a total of eight
“black” specimens. The divergence between mtDNA haplotypes of the black and
gray forms of Baird’s beaked whale was greater than their divergence from the
congeneric Arnoux’s beaked whale found in the Southern Ocean, and similar to
that observed among other congeneric beaked whale species. Taken together,
genetic evidence from specimens in Japan and across the North Pacific, combined
with evidence of smaller adult body size, indicate presence of an unnamed
species of Berardius in the North Pacific.
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