Analysis of mitochondrial DNA clarifies the taxonomy and distribution of the Australian snubfin dolphin (Orcaella heinsohni) in northern Australian waters
Carol Palmer A B J , Stephen A. Murphy C D , Deborah Thiele E , Guido J. Parra F G , Kelly M. Robertson H , Isabel Beasley I and Chris M. Austin BA Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport, PO Box 496, Palmerston, NT 0831, Australia.
B Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, NT 0909, Australia.
C Map IT, PO Box 500, Malanda, Qld 4885, Australia.
D Australian Wildlife Conservancy, PMB 925, Derby, WA 6728, Australia.
E Marequus Pty Ltd, PO Box 8194, Broome, WA 6725, Australia.
F School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.
G South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), PO Box 120, Henley Beach, SA 5022, Australia.
H Protected Resources Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Centre, National Marine Fisheries Services, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 3333 North Torrey Pines Court, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
I School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4810, Australia.
J Corresponding author. Email: caroll.palmer@nt.gov.au
Marine and Freshwater Research 62(11) 1303-1307 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF11063
Submitted: 17 March 2011 Accepted: 28 May 2011 Published: 12 October 2011
Abstract
Conservation management relies on being able to identify and describe species. Recent morphological and molecular analyses of the dolphin genus Orcaella show a species-level disjunction between eastern Australia and South-east Asia. However, because of restricted sampling, the taxonomic affinities of the geographically intermediate populations in the Northern Territory and Western Australia remained uncertain. We sequenced 403 base pairs of the mitochondrial control region from five free-ranging Orcaella individuals sampled from north-western Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Low net nucleotide divergence (0.11–0.67%) among the Australian Orcaella populations show that populations occurring in the Northern Territory and Western Australia belong to the Australian snubfin (O. heinsohni) rather than the Asian Irrawaddy dolphin (O. brevirostris). Clarifying the distribution of Orcaella is an important first step in the conservation and management for both species; however, an understanding of the metapopulation structure and patterns of dispersal among populations is now needed.
Additional keywords: distribution, mitochondrial DNA, northern Australia.
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