Sousa chinensis (Osbeck 1765)

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 : 732

Sousa chinensis (Osbeck 1765)

[Delphinus] chinensis Osbeck 1765 , Reise nach Ostind. China Rostock, Vol. 1: 7.

Type Locality: China, Guangdong Prov., Zhujiang Kou (mouth of Canton River).

Vernacular Names: Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin.

Synonyms: Sousa borneensis (Lydekker 1901) ; Sousa huangi Wang Peilie 1999 ; Sousa lentiginosa (Gray 1866) ; Sousa plumbea (G. Cuvier 1829) ; Sousa zambezicus (Miranda Ribiero 1936) .

Distribution: Indian Ocean: coastal waters and rivers from False Bay, South Africa, east to S China and Moreton Bay, Queensland ( Australia, see Corkeron, 1990).

Conservation: CITES – Appendix I; IUCN – Data Deficient.

Discussion: See Perrin (1975) who placed Delphinus malayanus in Stenella attenuata , as is done here; Pilleri and Gihr (1973 -74) considered borneensis , plumbea and lentiginosa to be distinct species. Mitchell (1975 a) combined those species into S. chinensis ; Brownell (1975 b) included Stenopontistes zambezicus as a synonym of S. plumbea . Wang Peilie (1999:299) described Sousa huangi on the basis of an immature specimen. Because we feel that immature specimens of Sousa do not show diagnostic characters, we tentatively reject Sousa huangi . Rice (1998:103) recognized S. plumbea (Indian Humpbacked Dolphin) as well as S. teuszi and S. chinensis , but gave conflicting accounts as to the number of species recognized in his account of the genus. Accordingly we maintain the more conservative approach of two species, while indicating that more detailed systematic work needs to be done.