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Sousa sahulensis

Mammalia - Cetacea - Delphinidae

Taxonomy
Sousa sahulensis was named by Jefferson and Rosenbaum (2014). It is extant. Its type specimen is MTQ JM20036, a skull. Its type locality is Saunders Beach, which is in a Holocene marine horizon in Australia.

Synonymy list
YearName and author
2014Sousa sahulensis Jefferson and Rosenbaum
2021Sousa sahulensis Jefferson p. 29

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
Bilateria
EubilateriaAx 1987
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)
Theriiformes()
RankNameAuthor
Trechnotheria
Cladotheria
Zatheria
subclassTribosphenida()
subclassTheria
Eutheria()
Placentalia
Boreoeutheria
Laurasiatheria
Scrotifera
Euungulata
Artiodactylamorpha
Artiodactyla()
Whippomorpha
orderCetacea
Pelagiceti
Neoceti
suborderOdontoceti
infraorderDelphinida
superfamilyDelphinoidea
familyDelphinidae
subfamilyDelphininae
genusSousaGray 1866
speciessahulensis

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.

Sousa sahulensis Jefferson and Rosenbaum 2014
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Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
T. A. Jefferson and H. C. Rosenbaum 2014Sousa sahulensis is known to reach total lenghts of up to 270 cm (Fig. 5). In this species, there is no visible dorsal hump and the dorsal fin is low and triangular, with a wide base ranging from 14% to 24% of body length (Ross et al. 1996; Fig. 6). Vertebral counts based on only two specimens (both with 50 total vertebrae) sug- gest that vertebral counts may be lower than in other species. The length/breadth ratio of the cranium is 2.2–2.5. The rostrum is relatively short (to 350 mm), and tooth counts are moderately low (31–35 per tooth row). The color pattern is very different than in the other species in the genus, with adults having a dark gray back and lighter belly separated by an indistinct curved “cape” margin. White blotches and spotting are common. There are no shared mtDNA haplotypes with other species, and seven diagnostic mtDNA characters that distinguish Sousa sahulensis from other Sousa species. A single nuDNA character diagnoses S. sahulensis from all other Sousa (Table 2).