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

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 231
Author(s):  
Omar Ramirez-Flores ◽  
Alastair Birtles ◽  
Diana Pazmino ◽  
Kyall R. Zenger ◽  
Lynne Van-Herwerden

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.

2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 580-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony R. Magee ◽  
Ben-Erik van Wyk ◽  
Patricia M. Tilney ◽  
Stephen R. Downie

Generic circumscriptions and phylogenetic relationships of the Cape genera Capnophyllum, Dasispermum, and Sonderina are explored through parsimony and Bayesian inference analyses of nrDNA ITS and cpDNA rps16 intron sequences, morphology, and combined molecular and morphological data. The relationship of these genera with the North African genera Krubera and Stoibrax is also assessed. Analyses of both molecular data sets place Capnophyllum, Dasispermum, Sonderina, and the only southern African species of Stoibrax (S. capense) within the newly recognized Lefebvrea clade of tribe Tordylieae. Capnophyllum is strongly supported as monophyletic and is distantly related to Krubera. The monotypic genus Dasispermum and Stoibrax capense are embedded within a paraphyletic Sonderina. This complex is distantly related to the North African species of Stoibrax in tribe Apieae, in which the type species, Stoibrax dichotomum, occurs. Consequently, Dasispermum is expanded to include both Sonderina and Stoibrax capense. New combinations are formalized for Dasispermum capense, D. hispidum, D. humile, and D. tenue. An undescribed species from the Tanqua Karoo in South Africa is also closely related to Capnophyllum and the Dasispermum–Sonderina complex. The genus Scaraboides is described herein to accommodate the new species, S. manningii. This monotypic genus shares the dorsally compressed fruit and involute marginal wings with Capnophyllum, but is easily distinguished by its erect branching habit, green leaves, scabrous umbels, and fruit with indistinct median and lateral ribs, additional solitary vittae in each marginal wing, and parallel, closely spaced commissural vittae. Despite the marked fruit similarities with Capnophyllum, analyses of DNA sequence data place Scaraboides closer to the Dasispermum–Sonderina complex, with which it shares the erect habit, green (nonglaucous) leaves, and scabrous umbels.


2014 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 235 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Safaei Chaei Kar ◽  
F. Ghanavati ◽  
M. R. Naghavi ◽  
H. Amirabadi-zade ◽  
R. Rabiee

Onobrychis, comprising more than 130 species, is a genus of the family Fabaceae. At this time, the interspecies relationship of this biologically important genus is still a subject of great discussion and debate. To help resolve this disagreement, we used molecular phylogeny to analyse internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and trnL–trnF sequences of 76 species of Onobrychis. Bayesian interference, maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses of nuclear ITS and plastid trnL–trnF DNA sequence data generated trees with strong posterior probability for two groups: Onobrychis subgen. Sisyrosema (including: Heliobrychis, Hymenobrychis, Afghanicae and Anthyllium sections) along with Laxiflorae section in Group I and Onobrychis subgen. Onobrychis (except Laxiflorae section) in the other (Group II). The Laxiflorae section roots back to the ancestral node for Sisyrosema subgen. O. viciifolia (cultivated species), which is closely associated with O. cyri var. cyri, suggesting that the latter may be a wild progenitor of O. viciifolia. The present study supported the paraphyly of subgenera Onobrychis and Sisyrosema. The study proposed the paraphyletic nature of the sections Onobrychis, Dendrobrychis, Heliobrychis and Hymenobrychis. Together with our molecular phylogenetic analyses we present a review of Onobrychis morphology and discuss and compare our results with those of earlier morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses.


2004 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthías Kjeld ◽  
Árni Alfredsson ◽  
Örn Ólafsson ◽  
Morten Tryland ◽  
Ivar Christensen ◽  
...  

An opportunity to study seasonal changes of sex hormones in the North Atlantic minke whale (common minke whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata) arose when we obtained access to fresh postmortem blood samples from 104 females and 83 males. The whales were caught in the North Atlantic during May–September 1992–1995. Serum progesterone (P) and testosterone (T) concentrations were measured and compared with anatomical data. The frequency distribution of female serum P values showed two clusters, one consisting mainly of immature animals and the second of pregnant ones, with mean serum values of about 0.49 ± 0.04 (SE) and 44.2 ± 2.84 nmol·L–1, respectively. The frequency distribution of male serum T did not show any group-specific distribution during the hunting season. The mean serum T value for the males was 0.63 ± 0.13 nmol·L–1. Contrary to earlier reports on the Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis), serum T values rose during the hunting season in mature males (p < 0.0001). Serum P values in immature females increased during the season (p = 0.015). This increase agrees with the predominantly annual reproduction cycle of minke whales. Blood sex hormone measurements seem to be useful for detecting cyclic changes and pregnancy of minke whales.


2009 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L Borchers ◽  
Daniel G Pike ◽  
Thorvaldur Gunnlaugsson ◽  
Gísli A Víkingsson

We estimate the abundance of minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) from the Icelandic coastal shelf aerial surveys carried out as part of the 1987 and 2001 North Atlantic Sightings Surveys (NASS). In the case of the 1987 survey, the probability of detecting animals at distance zero (g(0)) is very close to 1 but there is substantial random measurement error in estimating distances. To estimate abundance from these data, we use methods which assume g(0)=1 but which includea distance measurement error model. In the case of the 2001 survey, measurement errors were sufficiently small to be negligible, and we use double platform methods which estimate g(0) and assume no measurement error to estimate abundance. From the 1987 survey, we estimate abundance to be 24,532 animals, with 95% CI (13,399; 44,916). From the 2001 NASS survey data, minke whale abundance is estimated to be 43,633 animals, with 95% CI (30,148; 63,149).


2000 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tore Schweder ◽  
Gro S Hagen ◽  
Einar Hatlebakk

To study the pattern of interaction between minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) abundance and the main fisheries in the Greater Barents Sea, a simulation experiment was carried out. The population model involves 4 species interconnected in a food web: cod (Gadus morhua), capelin (Mallotus villosus), herring (Clupea harengus) and minke whales. Minke whales are preying on cod, capelin andherring; cod are preying on (young) cod, capelin and herring; herring in the Barents Sea are preying on capelin; while capelin is a bottom prey in the model. The consumption function for minke whales is non-linear in available prey abundance, and is estimated from stomach content data and prey abundance data. The model is dynamic, with a time step of one month, and there are two areas: the BarentsSea and the Norwegian Sea. Minke whale abundances are kept on fixed levels, while recruitment in fish is stochastic.Cod and herring fisheries are managed by quotas targeting fixed fishing mortalities, while capelin is managed with a view to allow the cod to have enough food and leaving a sufficient spawning stock of capelin. The model is simulated over a period of 100 years for a number of fixed levels of minke whaleabundance, and simulated catches of cod, herring and capelin are recorded.The experiment showed interactions between whale abundance and fish catches to be mainly linear. For cod catches, both the direct effect of whales consuming cod, and the indirect effect due to whales competing with cod for food and otherwise altering the ecosystem, are linear and of equal importance. The net effect on the herring fishery is of the same magnitude as the net effect on the cod fishery, witheach extra whale reducing the catches of both species by some 5 tonnes. These conclusions are conditional on the model and its parameterisation.


Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2991 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
JOHN M. HASH ◽  
BRIAN V. BROWN ◽  
PAUL T. SMITH

Phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequence data from the nuclear CAD (rudimentary) and mitochondrial NDI, COI, and 16S gene regions (2817 bp total) recovered exemplars of the genus Dohrniphora as a monophyletic lineage. The data also supported the sister-group relationship of Dohrniphora + Diplonevra and were used to associate a morphologically dissimilar male and female of the species D. ecitophila. Further, we discuss the implications of this designation and provide support for the synonymy of D. ecitophila and D. geminata as proposed by Borgmeier (1968).


1975 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 1237-1240 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. G. Brown

All smaller cetaceans known to have been successfully marked with "Discovery" type marks are summarized. These include 67 minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), 33 killer whales (Orcinus orca), 30 pilot whales (Globicephala sp.), 7 bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon sp.), 5 other "beaked whales," and 1 dusky dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obscurus). Recoveries include 3 minke, 1 bottlenose, and 1 killer. Minke whale marks were recovered up to 4 yr 2 mo after marking.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-140
Author(s):  
Eduardo Juri ◽  
Meica Valdivia ◽  
Paulo Cesar Simoes-Lopes ◽  
Alfredo Le Bas

The minke whale is the smallest of the living rorquals and is widely distributed in the tropical, temperate and polar waters of both hemispheres. In the western Southwest Atlantic Ocean there are two currently recognised species, the dwarf form of the common minke whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata unnamed subsp. and the Antarctic minke whale B. bonaerensis. All stranding records and collected specimens of minke whale on the coast of Uruguay were reviewed and analysed. Between 1962 and 2018, 33 records were gathered in a non-systematic way, 22 specimens of B. acutorostrata and 11 of B. bonaerensis. It was found that most animals were discovered alive or recently dead and assigned as neonates/young calves. This supports the hypothesis that Uruguayan coasts are part of an important region for reproduction and breeding for the species.


2013 ◽  
Vol 94 (6) ◽  
pp. 1185-1194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Dolman ◽  
Nicola K. Hodgins ◽  
Colin D. MacLeod ◽  
Graham J. Pierce ◽  
Caroline R. Weir

The waters off north-west Scotland are known to provide important habitat for the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) and the minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata). Between October 2008 and April 2011, systematic land-based surveys were carried out to assess the seasonal occurrence, group size and group behaviours of both species in a study area located off Melvaig, near Gairloch. Data were collected on 47 separate days, with a total of 4543 minutes of survey effort (in sea states ≤3) recorded during the spring months and 8204 minutes of effort during the autumn. A total of 189 sightings of marine fauna were recorded, comprising 126 cetacean sightings, 50 seal sightings and 13 sightings of basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus). Six species of cetacean were identified, with most sightings comprising harbour porpoise (N = 72) or minke whale (N = 38). Harbour porpoise abundance was higher in autumn than in spring and there was a variation between years in numbers of minke whales sighted. In porpoises, sea state and cloud cover both influenced sightings and increasing sea state influenced survey area. Foraging behaviour was exhibited in 13% of harbour porpoise sightings and 34% of minke whale sightings. Results demonstrate a regular occurrence of harbour porpoises and minke whales in nearshore waters off Gairloch. Densities are comparable to boat surveys in the region and so support the use of land-based watches as a potential longer-term monitoring method for these species in coastal waters. Given the regular use of this area by these two European Protected Species, as well as the occurrence of a range of human activities potentially affecting them in the region, it may be appropriate to consider protecting this area for their conservation.


2000 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pia Barner Neve

Information on the diet of minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in Greenland waters is reviewed. The knowledge is based on reports by whale catchers in Greenland, supplemented by limited scientific studies of stomach contents. The available material indicates that capelin (Mallotus villosus) is the predominant prey item in Greenland waters, particularly in coastal areas. In offshore areas, sand eel (Ammodytes spp) is consumed rather frequently, and krill (euphausids) appears to play a certain role in some areas or periods.


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