Pseudorca crassidens (Owen, 1846:516)

False killer whale

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonym/s: Phocaena crassidens Owen, 1846:516 (basionym); Orca meridionalis Flower, 1865:420

Conservation Status

Rediscovered in 1861

Distribution

Worldwide (mainly tropical)

Type locality: "Lincolnshire fens, near Stanford, England" (Bannister, 1988:207)

Type locality (meridionalis): Tasmania (Bannister, 1988:207)

Biology & Ecology

"Ecology: gregarious, piscivore, oceanic, pelagic, predator; diet mainly cephalopods and large fish."

(Bannister, 1988:207)

Hypodigm

"Type data: holotype, Subfossil skull, not in BMNH zoology or palaeontology collections" (Bannister, 1988:207)

Syntypes (meridionalis): RCSE (2 skulls) (Bannister, 1988:207)

Media

References

Original scientific description:

Owen, Richard. (1846). A History of British Fossil Mammals and Birds. London: John van Voorst.

Other references:

Aitken, P. F. (1971). Whales from the coast of South Australia. Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust. 95: 95-103.

Baird, R. W. (2018a). False killer whale Pseudorca crassidens, pp. 347-349. In: Würsig, B., Thewissen, J. G. M. and Kovacs, K. M. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd Edition. San Diego: Academic Press.

Baird, R. W. (2018b). Pseudorca crassidens (errata version published in 2019). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T18596A145357488. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T18596A145357488.en. Accessed on 26 August 2022.

Baird, R. W. (2023). False Killer Whale, Pseudorca crassidens, pp. 817-819. In: Baker, Andrew M. and Gynther, Ian C. (eds.). Strahan’s Mammals of Australia (4th ed.). Wahroonga, NSW: Reed New Holland Publishers. 848 pp.

Bannister, J. L. (1988). Delphinidae, pp. 201-210. In: Walton, D. W. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 5. Mammalia. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. x + 273 pp. [p. 207]

Bryden, M. M. (1978). Whales and whaling in Queensland waters. Proc. R. Soc. Qd. 89: v-xviii.

Flower, W. H. (1865). A new species of Grampus (Orca meridionalis) from Tasmania. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1864: 420-426.

Guiler, E. R. (1978). Whale strandings in Tasmania since 1945 with notes on some seal reports. Pap. Proc. R. Soc. Tasm. 112: 189-213.

Hershkovitz, P. (1966). Catalog of living whales. Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus. 246: viii + 259 pp.

Jackson, Stephen and Groves, Colin. (2015). Taxonomy of Australian Mammals. Clayton South, Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing. 529 pp. [p. 369]

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

Mallon, D., Hilton-Taylor, C., Allen, D. and Harding, K. (2019). UAE National Red List of Mammals: Marine and Terrestrial. A report to the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, United Arab Emirates. IUCN Global Species Programme. 74 pp.

Mathias, Maria da Luz et al. (2024). Mammals in the Collection of the National Museum of Natural History and Science (University of Lisbon, Portugal): A Contribution to Research and Conservation. Diversity 17(1): 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/d17010001

Ministério do Ambiente. (2018). Lista Vermelha de especies de Angola: Extintas, ameaçadas de extinção, vulneráveis e invasoras. Angola: Ministério do Ambiente.

Palmer, C., Baird, R. W., Webster, D. L., Edwards, A. C., Patterson, R., Withers, A., Withers, E., Groom, R. and Woinarski, John C. Z. (2017). A preliminary study of the movement patterns of false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) in the coastal and pelagic waters of the Northern Territory, Australia. Mar. Freshw. Res. 68: 1726-1733.

Warneke, R. M. (1983). Whale stranding - accident or design. Aust. Nat. Hist. 21: 43-47.

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_killer_whale

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