South Asian river dolphin

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South Asian river dolphin
File:Platanista gangetica noaa.jpg
Ganges river dolphin leaping out of the water
Ganges and Indus river dolphin size.svg
Size compared to an average human
Scientific classification edit
: [[Template:Taxonomy/Platanista]]
Wagler, 1830
Species:
Binomial name
Template:Taxonomy/PlatanistaPlatanista gangetica
(Lebeck, 1801); (Roxburgh, 1801)
Subspecies

Platanista gangetica gangetica
Platanista gangetica minor

Cetacea range map Indus and Ganges River Dolphin 2.png
Ranges of the Ganges river dolphin and of the Indus river dolphin

The South Asian river dolphin (Platanista gangetica) is a freshwater or river dolphin found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.

It is split into two subspecies, the Ganges river dolphin (P. g. gangetica) and Indus river dolphin (P. g. minor).

From the 1970s until 1998, they were regarded as separate species; however, in 1998, their classification was changed from two separate species to subspecies of a single species. The idea was to wait until genetic analysis had decided how best to classify them.

References[edit]

  1. "Platanista Wagler 1830 (toothed whale)". Fossilworks. Archived from the original on 2018-12-18. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  2. Smith, B.D. & Braulik, G.T. (2017). "Platanista gangetica". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T41758A50383612.
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