Dwarf minke whales from the South Pacific share a matrilineal lineage distinct from Balaenoptera acutorostrata acutorostrata and B. a. scammoni
Omar Ramirez-Flores
A F , Alastair Birtles A B , Diana Pazmino A C D , Kyall R. Zenger A C E and Lynne Van-Herwerden A C E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4810, Australia.
B College of Business, Law and Governance, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4810, Australia.
C Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4810, Australia.
D Galápagos Science Centre, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador.
E Comparative Genomics Centre, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4810, Australia.
F Corresponding author. Email: omar.ramirezflores@my.jcu.edu.au
Australian Mammalogy 41(2) 231-240 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM18015
Submitted: 28 September 2017 Accepted: 7 December 2018 Published: 21 January 2019
Abstract
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.
Additional keywords: cetaceans, Great Barrier Reef, marine mammals, matrilineal molecular markers, phylogenetics.
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