New dolphin species discovered

SYDNEY: Scientists expressed “surprise and delight” Thursday after a new humpback dolphin species was identified off northern Australia, with genetic mapping singling out an animal not previously known to science.
A global team led by the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society made the discovery after examining almost 200 dead dolphins and tissue specimens from live animals across the four Atlantic, Indian and Indo-Pacific ocean areas where humpbacks are known to live. A study of the beak length and number of teeth in 180 skulls from beached and museum specimens, as well as live DNA samples from 235 dolphins, identified a new species in the humpback, or sousa genus, which frequents waters off northern Australia.
“Based on our combined genetic and morphological analyzes, there is convincing evidence for at least four species within the genus,” lead author Martin Mendez wrote in the paper, published in the latest edition of the journal Molecular Ecology.