The phylogeny of humpback dolphins genus Sousa: insights through mtDNA analyses

The relationships within the genus Sousa presented here show clear differences and similarities between regions, which are contradictory to the complex morphological patterns of the genus (Ross et al., 1996). Chinese and east Australian animals display similarities in colour and fin shape, but are divergent in their mtDNA. In dolphins from Australian waters the tympanoperiotic bones are of the chinensis form, while in dolphins from South Africa, the tympanoperiotics are of the plumbea form yet their mtDNA haplotype pattern is exactly opposite. Tympanoperiotic bones in dolphins from India matched the plumbea form, while the Indonesian (borneensis) animal used in this study (S. chinensis) resembled the chinensis form in three offive tympanoperiotic bone characters. The complex morphological relationships within the genus Sousa are reviewed in Ross et al. (1996).