Complete mitochondrial genomes and phylogeny of two rare whale species: True’s (Mesoplodon mirus: True 1913) and Sowerby’s (Mesoplodon bidens: Sowerby 1804) beaked whales

• Published in: Mitochondrial DNA Part B
• Main Authors: Anthony L. Einfeldt, Ian G. Paterson, Laura J. Feyrer
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2019
• Subjects: true’s beaked whale; sowerby’s beaked whale; mitogenome; ziphiidae; next-generation sequencing; Genetics; QH426-470; Mesoplodon bidens
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/23802359.2018.1541719; https://doaj.org/article/3dae3c81dfd74a78bc15a8749b2b137a

Beaked whales of the genus Mesoplodon are rarely encountered and information on their basic biology is lacking. We sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes of True’s (Mesoplodon mirus) and Sowerby’s (Mesoplodon bidens) beaked whales to high depth (>120X). The length of the de novo assembled genomes was 16,342 bp (M. mirus) and 16,347 bp (M. bidens), with GC compositions of 37.7 and 39.2%, respectively. A maximum-likelihood phylogeny supports the hypotheses that M. mirus is most closely related to Mesoplodon europaeus, and that M. bidens is the basal species of the genus. These data provide molecular resources that will aid in further understanding population genetics and evolution in this rare and poorly understood group of cetaceans.