Spade-toothed whale | |
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A beached male of the species found in New Zealand in 2024 | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Infraorder: | Cetacea |
Family: | Ziphiidae |
Genus: | Mesoplodon |
Species: | M. traversii
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Binomial name | |
Mesoplodon traversii (Gray, 1874)
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Locations and dates of specimens | |
Synonyms | |
Dolichodon traversii Gray, 1874 |
The spade-toothed whale (Mesoplodon traversii) is the rarest species of beaked whale. Most specimens found have been in the South Pacific, mostly in New Zealand, but they have also been found in Chile. It is a species of which there is very little known.