Dwarf minke whales from the South Pacific share a matrilineal lineage distinct from Balaenoptera acutorostrata acutorostrata and B. a. scammoni

Dwarf minke whales are regarded as an undescribed subspecies of common minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), but appropriate conservation action requires taxonomic confirmation. The relationship of the Australian Great Barrier Reef (GBR) dwarf minke whale aggregation to other minke whales is un...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Australian Mammalogy
Main Authors: Ramirez Flores, Omar, Birtles, Alastair, Pazmino, Diana, Zenger, Kyall R., Van Herwerden, Lynne
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: CSIRO 2019
Subjects:
Pacific
Southern Ocean
Balaenoptera acutorostrata
minke whale
Online Access:https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/60574/1/60574.pdf
Description
Summary:Dwarf minke whales are regarded as an undescribed subspecies of common minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), but appropriate conservation action requires taxonomic confirmation. The relationship of the Australian Great Barrier Reef (GBR) dwarf minke whale aggregation to other minke whales is unknown. This study aims to clarify the phylogenetic relationship of GBR dwarf minke whales, using partial mitochondrial DNA sequence data from 23 GBR dwarf minke whales, compared with other available minke whale sequences. GBR dwarf minke whales share haplotypes with other West South Pacific (WSP) dwarf minke whales. Satellite tagging studies corroborate these findings, indicating that GBR dwarf minke whales migrate south along the east Australian coast towards the Southern Ocean. Despite nuclear data not being available, GBR and WSP dwarf minke whales share a distinctive mitochondrial lineage compared with other common minke whales and should be managed independently of North Pacific and Atlantic Ocean common minke whale populations.

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