Van Waerebeek et al., J Mar Biol Oceanogr 2018, 7:4 DOI: 10.4172/2324-8661.1000195 Journal of Marine Biology & Oceanography Short Communication A SciTechnol Journal On the Recommended Vernacular Names of Mesoplodon peruvianus Reyes, Mead & Van Waerebeek, 1991 (Cetacea, Ziphiidae) in Several World Languages Koen Van Waerebeek1,15*, Julio C Reyes2, Eduardo R Secchi3, Joanna Alfaro-Shigueto4,5, Fernando Félix6, Carlos Guerra-Correa7, Jean-Luc Jung8, Hong-yu Lai9, Ann-Katrien Lescrauwaet10,1, Jeffrey C Mangel4,11, Wenshi Pan12, Michela 13 14 15 Figure 1: Lesser beaked whales from Peruvian coastal waters. (Upper left) Podestà , Fabian Ritter , Gian Paolo Sanino , Marina A 326 cm male (KVW 346) landed at Cerro Azul port; (Lower left) skeleton of 16 17 Sequeira , Salvatore Siciliano , Marie-Françoise Van 372 cm holotype adult male (MUSM 1146) stranded at Playa Paraíso; (Upper Bressem1 and José L Yañez18 right) head lateral view of 271 cm juvenile male (KVW-506) landed at Cerro Azul; (Lower right) head in dorsal view of KVW 506 showing wide blowhole and non-erupted teeth. Scale (green) is 30 cm. Photos Koen Van Waerebeek©. Abstract Relevant and distinctive vernacular species names are essential and laboratory conditions, but also among non-cetologists such as to assure efficient communication among scientists under field and fisheries and international trade managers, policy makers, legislation laboratory conditions, but also among non-specialists including the enforcement agents (e.g., customs and CITES officers) and the general public at large. We provide a rationale for recommended vernacular public. Many animal species bear multiple, more-or-less equivalent and alternative names for the lesser beaked whale Mesoplodon peruvianus Reyes, Mead & Van Waerebeek, 1991 in 11 major names, but occasionally one of these is explicitly recommended by world languages which encompass most of cetacean literature. taxon specialists based on common-sense arguments [8]. On a wider Principal criteria for name endorsement are unambiguity and non- scale, this pragmatic concern is addressed, for instance, by the World repetitiveness with respect to other aquatic mammal species. Register of Marine Species WoRMS, which is hosted and developed Keywords by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) with the participation of Mesoplodon peruvianus; Cetacean nomenclature; Aquatic mammal; hundreds of taxonomic editors and experts in the field. We here Pacific Ocean reiterate an earlier recommendation for the English name of M. peruvianus and common names in 10 other languages which cover much of the world literature on marine mammals (Table 1). Discovered on the Peruvian coast, the lesser beaked whale Mesoplodon peruvianus Reyes, Mead & Van Waerebeek, 1991 (Figure When Reyes et al. [2] formally described M. peruvianus based on 1), the smallest among 15 species of mesoplodonts (family Ziphiidae), is 10 specimens collected on the central Peruvian coast in the 1980s, it distributed throughout the eastern Pacific Ocean, from at least 36°47'N was an oversight that no vernacular names were proposed. However off central California, south to at least 30°S off northern central Chile, merely months later, in a narrative of the discovery, Van Waerebeek with apparent concentrations in Peruvian coastal waters (Reyes and [9] recommended 'Lesser beaked whale' as the English common name Van Waerebeek)1 [1,2], in the Gulf of California, Mexico [3,4] and in which soon found its way into primary literature on eastern Pacific the Eastern Tropical Pacific [5,6]. A single stranding at Kaikoura, New cetaceans [10-13] as well as in handbooks [14,15]. In another concise Zealand [7] is presently the only record in the Southwest Pacific. It account of the new whale, Ralls and Brownell [16] added in a footnote remains unknown whether or not this was an errant individual [1,6]. 'As Reyes et al. provide no common name for the newly described species, we propose the name pygmy beaked whale'. Consequential to Relevant and distinctive vernacular names of species are essential the authors' and the journal's prominence, this name has been widely to assure efficient daily communication among scientists in both field used, especially in North American literature. 1Reyes JC, Van Waerebeek K. The lesser beaked whale, Mesoplodon peruvianus A third vernacular name, the 'Peruvian beaked whale' was Reyes, Mead & Van Waerebeek 1991 revisited, with biological observations on 2 new specimens from Peru. introduced and recognized (ITIS, 2018 ) [17,18], quite inevitably as the literal translation of the scientific (latinized) binomial. This name is both evident and distinct among marine mammal species and subspecies. Finally, Pitman and Lynn [5] suggested 'bandolero beaked *Corresponding author: Koen Van Waerebeek, Peruvian Centre for Cetacean whale', referring to an oblique white swath on the anterolateral body, Research/Centro Peruano de Estudios Cetológicos (CEPEC), Museo de Delfines, which however is present only in older adult males, and perhaps not Lima 20, Peru, Tel: +51 989180339; E-mail: [email protected] Received: August 16, 2018 Accepted: August 29, 2018 Published: September 2Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS): www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/ 05, 2018 SingleRpt#null All articles published in Journal of Marine Biology & Oceanography are the property of SciTechnol, and is protected by International Publisher of Science, copyright laws. Copyright © 2018, SciTechnol, All Rights Reserved. Technology and Medicine Citation: Van Waerebeek K, Reyes JC, Secchi E, Alfaro-Shigueto J, Félix F, et al. (2018) On the Recommended Vernacular Names of Mesoplodon peruvianus Reyes, Mead & Van Waerebeek, 1991 (Cetacea, Ziphiidae) in Several World Languages. J Mar Biol Oceanogr 7:4. doi: 10.4172/2324-8661.1000195 Table 1: Recommended vernacular and alternative names for Mesoplodon peruvianus in several major world languages. Principal criteria for names are unambiguity and non-repetitiveness with respect to other species names in the Infraorder Cetacea and other aquatic mammals. Names in square brackets are, or have been, used but are either discouraged or are obsolete. Language Recommended name Alternative name (s) Chinese (Mandarin) 小 喙 鯨 (pronunciation: xiăo huì jīng) Dutch Kleine spitssnuitdolfijn Peruaanse spitssnuitdolfijn English Lesser beaked whale Peruvian beaked whale [Pygmy beaked whale] French Mésoplodon péruvien Petit mésoplodon Baleine-à-bec péruvienne German Kleiner Schnabelwal Peruanischer Schnabelwal Italian Mesoplodonte peruviano [Balena dal becco peruviana] Japanese 「ペルーオウギハクジラ」 [Pigumii ougihakujira] (pronunciation: peruu ougihakujira) Portuguese (Portugal) Baleia-de-bico-peruana Portuguese (Brazil) Baleia-bicuda-pequena Baleia-bicuda-peruana Russian малый ремнезуб перуанский ремнезуб Spanish Zifio menor Zifio peruano [Ballena picuda peruana] Table 2: Examples of mammalian species belonging to six different Orders which bear the 'lesser' epithet in their vernacular English names, also meaning they are the smallest species in the genus. None are aquatic mammals. Common name Scientific name Family Order Lesser anteater Tamandua tetradactyla (Linnaeus, 1758) Myrmecophagidae Pilosa Lesser panda Ailurus fulgens (F. Cuvier, 1825) Ailuridae Carnivora Lesser grison Galictis cuja (Molina, 1782) Mustelidae Carnivora Lesser red musk shrew Crocidura hirta (Peters, 1852) Soricidae Eulipotyphla Lesser mouse-deer Tragulus kanchil (Raffles, 1821) Tragulidae Cetartiodactyla Lesser Madagascar hedgehog tenrec Echinops telfairi (Martin, 1838) Tenrecidae Afrosoricida Lesser horseshoe bat Rhinolophus hipposideros (Bechstein, 1800) Rhinolophidae Chiroptera vivid in all stocks. At least the 'bandolero' epithet albeit not English whale' in avoidance of the trite 'pygmy' default (Robert L. Pitman, in deserves credit for originality and uniqueness, but the name has not litt. to W.F. Perrin)5. Moreover, similar names create confusion among found traction in publications and is infrequently mentioned as an non-specialist users, augment the probability of misunderstandings existing synonym. in verbal communications and may cause errors in data transcription, sample labelling, etc., among researchers. At least seven cetacean So three decades after the M. peruvianus discovery, three taxa have currently been assigned with the ‘pygmy’ epithet, of which vernacular English names are in circulation, of which we again four species: pygmy killer whale Feresa attenuata Gray, 1874; pygmy recommend as preferred name 'Lesser beaked whale' [10] for the sperm whale Kogia breviceps (de Blainville, 1838), pygmy right whale following reasons. The 'lesser' epithet, indicating smallest adult size Caperea marginata (Gray, 1846), and presently, pygmy beaked whale, in the genus or family, is widely used in terrestrial mammals (see as well as three putative subspecies, pygmy blue whale Balaenoptera examples in Table 2). Secondly, the epithet is unique among the 146 musculus brevicauda (Ichihara 1966) pygmy Bryde's whale 3 extant aquatic mammal species and accurately reflects M. peruvianus Balaenoptera edeni edeni and pygmy fin whaleBalaenoptera physalus smallest body length for physically mature males (372 cm) compared unnamed subsp. [23]. This, nota bene, without any phylogenetic, to second and third smallest mesoplodonts with males reaching ecological, morphologic or any other relevant biological affinity physical maturity at, respectively, 390 cm in Mesoplodon perrini [19] between them, not even comparability in body size which 'pygmy'