| Pygmy beaked whale | |
|---|---|
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| Size compared to an average human | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | Ziphiidae |
| Genus: | Mesoplodon |
| Species: | M. peruvianus
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| Binomial name | |
| Mesoplodon peruvianus Reyes, Mead, and Van Waerebeek, 1991
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| Pygmy beaked whale range | |
The pygmy beaked whale (Mesoplodon peruvianus), also known as the bandolero beaked whale, Peruvian beaked whale and lesser beaked whale, is the smallest of the mesoplodonts and one of the newest discoveries. There were at least two dozen sightings of an unknown beaked whale named Mesoplodon sp. A before the initial classification, and those are now believed to be synonymous with the species. The species was formally described in 1991, based on ten specimens obtained from Peru between 1976 and 1989, including a 3.72 m (12.2 ft) adult male as the type specimen. A specimen that stranded at Paracas, Peru in 1955 (first tentatively identified as Andrews' beaked whale) has since been identified as a pygmy beaked whale. Since 1987, there have been an additional 40 sightings of the species, for a total of 65 (as of 2001).[3]
- ^ Pitman, R.L. & Taylor, B.L. (2020). "Mesoplodon peruvianus". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020. IUCN: e.T13251A50367335. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Pitman, RL; Lynn, MS (2001). "Biological observations of an unidentified mesoplodont whale in the eastern tropical Pacific and probable identity: Mesoplodon peruvianus". Mar. Mammal Sci. 17 (3): 648–657. Bibcode:2001MMamS..17..648P. doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2001.tb01010.x.