Abstract

(…) Guiler, Burton and Gales (1987) reported a cranium (Tasmanian Museum No. A1411) they identified as belonging to Burmeister’s porpoise, Phocoena spinipinnis (Burmeister, 1865) from Heard Island (53°S 73°30’E). They noted that P. spinipinnis was previously known only from the cold-temperate coastal waters of South America and claimed that this cranium was evidence that the species has a much wider distribution than previously known. We have examined the photographs and details of their specimen and re-identify it here as Australophocaena dioptrica (Lahille, 1912) (family Phocoenidae). (…)