Cetaceans use sound for communication, navigation and finding prey. Most extant odontocetes produce broadband (BB) biosonar clicks covering frequency ranges from tens of kilohertz to 150–170 kHz. In contrast, the…
A disparate selection of toothed whales (Odontoceti) share striking features of their acoustic repertoires including the absence of whistles and high frequency but weak (low peak-to-peak source level) clicks that…
The mitochondrial DNA control region of 12 finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) from the Yangtze River, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, was amplified. Two portions, 317 and 245 base pairs,…
Despite no obvious barriers to gene flow in the marine realm, environmental variation and ecological specializations can lead to genetic differentiation in highly mobile predators. Here, we investigated the genetic…
Longitudinal and cross sections of teeth from 17 species of the Recent dolphins (Delphinoidea and Inioidea) were examined under scanning electron microscope to study the arrangement and ultrastructure of dental…
High-resolution X-ray computed tomographic scans were used to examine pterygoid sinus morphology within extant porpoise species and one delphinid (Tursiops truncatus), in order to consider: 1) intraspecific and interspecific variation…
Little is known about the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in the genome of Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) (YFP) or other cetaceans. In this study, a high quality YFP…
True porpoises are a morphologically distinctive and evolutionarily old group of odontocete cetaceans classified as the family Phocoenidae. They are distinct from members of the family Delphinidae, with which they…
All extant members of Phocoenidae (porpoises) have been characterized as pedomorphic based on skeletal characters. To investigate the ontogenetic background for pedomorphosis and assess interspecific differences in ontogeny among phocoenids,…
Portions of the cytochrome b gene and control region of the mitochondrial DNA molecule were sequenced to investigate systematic relationships among the six extant species of true porpoises, (Cetacea: Phocoenidae).…