Lutra 61(1)_Kinze_2018

A case for Tursiops tursio (Gunnerus, 1768)

Since about 1903 Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821) has gradually replaced Tursiops tursio (Fabricius, 1780) as the scientific name for the bottlenose dolphin. In 1903, American cetologist Frederick W. True (1858- 1914) had rejected Danish scholar Otto Fabricius’ (1744-1822) specific name tursio on grounds of: 1. dubious features given in the original description and 2. the mere fact that bottlenose dolphins never had been documented from Greenlandic waters. However, Fabricius’ name is a homonym and junior synonym of Delphinus tursio Gunnerus, 1768. The Norwegian scholar Johann Ernst Gunnerus (1718-1773) had proposed this scientific name to differentiate between the “stourvagn”, the orca of the old Norse people, and the “lillevagn”, the other and smaller orca of the northern seas. Gunnerus’ brief description and his reference to the “Orca” skull depicted in the 1741 work of German scholar Jacob Theodor Klein (1685-1759) immediately determine Delphinus tursio Gunnerus, 1768 to Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821). To balance between the principles of priority and stability of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, I propose to resurrect Tursiops tursio as the scientific name of the bottlenose dolphin granting original authorship to Gunnerus (1768) and designate Puck Bay, Poland as the type locality for the species. Further, I propose to preserve Orcinus orca (Linnæus, 1758) for the killer whale.