Species Globicephala melas (Traill, 1809)

Museums

Regional Maps

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Hershkovitz, P. 1966. Catalog of living whales. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 246: viii 1-259 [91] (for extra-limital synonomy)

 

Generic Combinations

• Globicephala melas (Traill, 1809).

 

Introduction

Formerly incorrectly known as melaena, however melas is a Greek adjective that does not change its ending (Mead & Brownell 1993).

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Circumglobal but antitropical in colder temperate waters only.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IMCRA

Timor Transition (1), Tasmania Province (10), Southeast Transition (11), Central Eastern Province (12), Tasman Basin Province (13), Lord Howe Province (14), Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Southwest Shelf Province (31), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Tasmanian Shelf Province (36), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41), Central Western Transition (5), Central Western Province (6), Southwest Transition (7), Southern Province (8), West Tasmania Transition (9)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • 200 m bathymetric: Bass Strait, Central E coast, Lower E coast, Lower W coast, N coast, NE coast, S Gulfs coast, SW coast, Tas. Coast
  • 200 mile fishing zone: S oceanic, SE oceanic, W oceanic
  • Western Australia: SW coast

Ecological Descriptors

Gregarious, migratory, oceanic, pelagic, predator.

Extra Ecological Information

Diet mainly squid.

 

General References

Aitken, P.F. 1971. Whales from the coast of South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 95: 95-103

Amos, B., Schlotterer, C. & Tauz, D. 1993. Social structure of pilot whales revealed by analytical DNA profiling. Science (Washington, D.C.) 260: 670-672

Bannister, J.L., Kemper, C.M. & Warneke, R.M. 1996. The Action Plan for Australian Cetaceans. Canberra : Australian Nature Conservation Agency 242 pp.

Bernard, H.J. & Reilly, S.B. 1999. Pilot whales. pp. 245-279 in Ridgway, S.H. & Harrison, R.J. (eds). Handbook of Marine Mammals. Volume 6. The second book of dolphins and the porpoises. London : Academic Press.

Davies, J.L. 1960. The southern form of the Pilot Whale. Journal of Mammalogy 41: 29-34

Gales, R., Pemberton, D., Clarke, M. & Lu, C.C. 1992. Stomach contents of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Tasmania. Marine Mammal Science 8(4): 405-413

Guiler, E.R. 1978. Whale strandings in Tasmania since 1945 with notes on some seal reports. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 112: 189-213

Hershkovitz, P. 1966. Catalog of living whales. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 246: viii 1-259 [91]

Leatherwood, S. & Reeves, R.R. 1983. The Sierra Club Handbook of Whales and Dolphins. San Francisco : Sierra Club Books xviii 302 pp.

Mead, J.G. & Brownell, R.L. 1993. Order Cetacea. pp. 349-364 in Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D-A. M. (eds). Mammal species of the world: A taxonomic and geographic reference. Second Edition. Washington : Smithsonian Institute 1206 pp. [352]

Warneke, R.M. 1983. Whale stranding — accident or design. Australian Natural History 21: 43-47

Watson, L. 1981. Sea Guide to Whales of the World. London : Hutchinson 302 pp.

 

Common Name References

ABRS 2001. Census of Australian Vertebrates. Australian Biological Resources Study. (Long-finned Pilot Whale)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
16-Dec-2010		16-Oct-2013	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)