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Cephalorhynchus
Commerson's dolphin
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Delphinidae
Subfamily: Lissodelphininae
Genus: Cephalorhynchus
Gray, 1846
Type species
Delphinus heavisidii [1]
Gray, 1828
Species

C. commersonii
C. eutropia
C. heavisidii
C. hectori

Cephalorhynchus is a genus in the dolphin family Delphinidae.

Extant species

It consists of four species:

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution
Commerson's dolphin C. commersonii Argentina including Puerto Deseado, in the Strait of Magellan and around Tierra del Fuego, and near the Falkland Islands, near the Kerguelen Islands in the southern part of the Indian Ocean
Chilean dolphin C. eutropia coast of Chile
Heaviside's dolphin C. heavisidii coast of northern Namibia at 17°S and as far south as the southern tip of South Africa
Hector's dolphin C. hectori coastal regions of New Zealand

The species have similar physical features—they are small, generally playful, blunt-nosed dolphins—but they are found in distinct geographical locations.

A phylogenetic analysis by May-Collado & Agnarsson 2006 indicated the two species traditionally assigned to the genus Lagenorhynchus, the hourglass dolphin L. cruciger and Peale's dolphin L. australis are actually phylogenetically nested among the species of Cephalorhynchus, and they suggest these two species should be transferred to the genus Cephalorhynchus. Some acoustic and morphological data support this arrangement, at least with respect to Peale's dolphin.

According to Schevill & Watkins 1971, Peale's dolphin and the Cephalorhynchus species are the only dolphins that do not whistle (no acoustic data are available for the hourglass dolphin). Peale's dolphin also shares with several Cephalorhynchus species the possession of a distinct white "armpit" marking behind the pectoral fin.

References

  1. ^ Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN  978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC  62265494.