Globiocephalus australis Gray, 1871b

Parnaby, Harry E., Ingleby, Sandy & Divljan, Anja, 2017, Type Specimens of Non-fossil Mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Records of the Australian Museum 69 (5), pp. 277-420 : 408

Globiocephalus australis Gray, 1871b nomen nudum

Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales Brit. Mus., p. 85. (1871).

Common name. Long-finned Pilot Whale.

Current name. Globicephala melas ( Traill, 1809) , following Perrin (2009j).

Material. Type specimens not designated. Gray states “Coast of Australia. In Museum of Sydney” .

Comments. Gray (1871b: 85) listed a name “ Globiocephalus australis ” only in relation to material in the “Museum of Sydney” (= AM). He did not provide a description and the name is a nomen nudum, and listed by Hershkovitz (1966) as a synonym of Globicephala melaena melaena (Traill) [variant spelling of melas , see Jackson & Groves, 2015]; not cited by Scott (1873) or Iredale & Troughton (1934). Four skulls registered in the Palmer Register possibly represent the material referred to by Gray as being in the AM Collection. Although of no nomenclatural significance, they are of possible historical value and are mentioned here. Three of these are entered with no generic or species entry, locality, date or collector: PA.316, PA.317 and PA.321. A fourth, PA.324, a lower jaw, from Tasmania, was donated by “Dr Cox” in April 1871. All have been located in the collection except PA.317, which may be represented by an old Globicephala skull with no number, writing or labels. ( Globiocephalus Gray, 1846 is an emendation of Globicephala Lesson, 1828 , see Hershkovitz (1966: 90)).