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Delphinapterus leucas (beluga whale)

Mammalia - Cetacea - Monodontidae

Taxonomy
Delphinus leucas was named by Pallas (1776) [no type specimen designated ]. It is extant. Its type locality is Ob River mouth, which is in a Holocene estuary/bay horizon in the Russian Federation.

It was replaced with Beluga borealis by Lesson (1828); it was recombined as Delphinapterus leucas by Flower (1885), Lydekker (1887), Newton (1891), Hay (1902), Trouessart (1904), Turner (1912), Hay (1930), Scheffer and Rice (1963), Hershkovitz (1966), Stewart and Stewart (1989), Rice (1998), Mead and Brownell (2005), Agnarsson and May-Collado (2008), Uhen et al. (2008) and Jefferson (2021).

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1762Cetus albicans Brisson
1776Balaena albicans Muller p. 7
1776Delphinus leucas Pallas p. 85
1804Catodon albicans Lacépède p. 218
1804Delphinapterus beluga Lacépède p. 243
1820Delphinus albians Nilsson p. 243
1821Delphinus leucaster Gray p. 310
1822Delphinus canadensis Desmarest
1827Delphinus kingii Gray p. 235
1828Beluga glacialis Lesson p. 194
1828Beluga borealis Lesson p. 440
1828Catodon canadensis Lesson p. 440
1829Delphinus canadensis Fischer p. 505
1829Delphinus kingii Fischer p. 513
1829Delphinus leucas Fischer p. 513
1846Beluga catodon Gray p. 29
1846Beluga kingii Gray p. 30
1846Inia canadensis Gray p. 45
1847Delphinus leucas Nilsson p. 614
1850Beluga catodon Gray p. 77
1850Beluga kingii Gray p. 79
1850Delphinus vermontana Thompson p. 262 figs. Fig. 1-13
1853Delphinus vermontanus Pictet p. 382
1853Beluga vermontana Thompson p. 15
1865Beluga declivis Cope p. 274
1865Beluga concreta Cope p. 278
1865Beluga rhinodon Cope p. 278
1865Delphinapterus concreta Cope p. 278
1866Beluga angustata Cope p. 293
1866Beluga kingii Gray p. 309
1868Beluga kingii Gray p. 9
1869Beluga declivis Scammon and Cope p. 23
1885Delphinapterus leucas Flower pp. 14-15
1887Delphinapterus leucas Lydekker p. 78
1890Delphinapterus vermontanus Cope p. 616
1891Delphinapterus leucas Newton p. 79
1898Delphinapterus vermontana Trouessart p. 1051
1902Delphinapterus leucas Hay p. 594
1902Delphinapterus vermontana Hay p. 594
1904Delphinapterus vermontana Trouessart p. 771
1904Delphinapterus kingi Trouessart p. 772
1904Delphinapterus leucas Trouessart p. 772
1908Delphinapterus vermontanus Perkins p. 77
1912Delphinapterus leucas Turner p. 103
1930Delphinapterus leucas Hay p. 593
1930Delphinapterus vermontanus Hay p. 594
1935Delphinapterus freimani Klumov p. 26
1935Delphinapterus dorofeevi Klumov and Barabash p. 24
1935Delphinapterus marisalbi Ostroumov
1963Delphinapterus leucas Scheffer and Rice p. 5
1966Delphinapterus leucas Hershkovitz p. 391
1989Delphinapterus leucas Stewart and Stewart p. 1
1998Delphinapterus leucas Rice p. 96
2005Delphinapterus leucas Mead and Brownell p. 735
2008Delphinapterus leucas Agnarsson and May-Collado p. 981 figs. Fig. 5
2008Delphinapterus leucas Uhen et al. p. 590
2021Delphinapterus leucas Jefferson p. 11

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
Bilateria
EubilateriaAx 1987
Life
Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
Tetrapoda
Reptiliomorpha
Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
Cotylosauria()
Amniota
subclassSynapsida
Therapsida()
infraorderCynodontia()
Mammaliamorpha
Mammaliaformes
classMammalia
Theriamorpha(Rowe 1993)
RankNameAuthor
Theriiformes()
Trechnotheria
Cladotheria
Zatheria
subclassTribosphenida()
subclassTheria
Eutheria()
Placentalia
Boreoeutheria
Laurasiatheria
Scrotifera
Euungulata
Artiodactylamorpha
Artiodactyla()
Whippomorpha
orderCetacea
Pelagiceti
Neoceti
suborderOdontoceti
infraorderDelphinida
superfamilyDelphinoidea
familyMonodontidae
genusDelphinapterus
speciesleucas(Pallas 1776)

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

Delphinapterus leucas Pallas 1776 [beluga whale]
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Invalid names: Beluga angustata Cope 1866 [synonym], Beluga borealis Lesson 1828 [synonym], Beluga catodon Gray 1846 [synonym], Beluga concreta Cope 1865 [synonym], Beluga declivis Cope 1865 [synonym], Beluga glacialis Lesson 1828 [synonym], Beluga kingii Gray 1827 [synonym], Beluga rhinodon Cope 1865 [synonym], Catodon albicans Lacépède 1804 [synonym], Catodon canadensis Lesson 1828 [synonym], Cetus albicans Brisson 1762 [synonym], Delphinapterus beluga Lacépède 1804 [synonym], Delphinapterus concreta Cope 1865 [synonym], Delphinapterus dorofeevi Klumov and Barabash 1935 [synonym], Delphinapterus freimani Klumov 1935 [synonym], Delphinapterus marisalbi Ostroumov 1935 [synonym], Delphinapterus vermontanus Thompson 1850 [synonym], Delphinus albians Muller 1776 [synonym], Inia canadensis Desmarest 1822 [synonym]
Diagnosis
No diagnoses are available