Globicephala melas (Traill 1809)

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Cetacea, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 723-743 : 728

Globicephala melas (Traill 1809)

[Delphinus] melas Traill 1809 , Nicholson's J. Nat. Philos. Chem. Arts, 22: 81.

Type Locality: UK, Scotland, "in Scapay Bay, in Pomona, one of the Orkneys".

Vernacular Names: Long-finned Pilot Whale.

Synonyms: Globicephala intermedius (Harlan 1827) .

Subspecies: :

Subspecies Globicephala melas subsp. melas Traill 1809

Subspecies Globicephala melas subsp. edwardii Smith 1834

Distribution: North Atlantic and southern Oceans: cold-temperate waters. Kasuya (1975) described the historic distribution in the NW Pacific.

Conservation: CITES – Appendix II; IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: See Van Bree (1971). Formerly called G. melaena but Article 31b of the third edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1985 d) specifically gave melas as an example of a Greek adjective that does not change its ending when transferred to a genus of another gender (see Schevill, 1990 a, b; Rice, 1990). Rice (1998:119) recognized G. m. melas (North Atlantic Longfinned Pilot whale), G. m. edwardii (Southern Longfinned Pilot Whale) and an un-named subfossil subspecies of G. melas that occupied the North Pacific.