Biodiversity

Sunday, April 01, 2007

INTERACTIVE KEY ON WHALES AND DOLPHINS

Key 5a. Confirmatory characters


Characters: 21 in data, 14 included, 8 in key.
Items: 11 in data, 11 included, 14 in key.
Parameters: Rbase = 1.40 Abase = 2.00 Reuse = 1.01 Varywt = .80
Characters included: 1–2 6–14 16 20–21
Character reliabilities: 1–21,5.0

1(0).
  • Colour above
    black-blue ... Balaena glacialis

  • Colour above white... Megaptera novaeangliae

  • Colour above black... 2
  • Colour above
    pale-grey... Delphinus delphis

  • Colour above grey... 5
  • Colour above
    dark-grey... 6
  • Colour above dark
    blue-grey... Stenella coeruleoalba

2(1).

  • Echolocation present ... 3
  • Echolocation
    unknown... 4

3(2).

  • Snout rounded; Dorsal fin absent; Migration unknown; Attack humans unknown
    ... Lissodelphis peronii

  • Snout unknown; Dorsal fin present; Migration yes; Attack humans
    never... Orcinus orca

4(2).

  • Snout rounded ... Cephalorhynchus
    heavisidii
    , Lagenorhynchus obscurus

  • Snout unknown... Delphinus delphis

5(1).

  • Colour below off-white speckled with grey spots; Snout moderate length;
    Body robust ... Tursiops truncatus

  • Colour below grey; Snout unknown; Body very large and
    prune-like... Physeter macrocephalus

6(1).

  • Snout moderate length ... Tursiops truncatus

  • Snout rounded... Lagenorhynchus obscurus

  • Snout unknown... Sousa plumbea

1 Comments:

  • Rather use words dorsal and ventral (replacing above and below). Where possible keep character and character state together rather than spliting over two lines (see first character). I am a bit unhappy about the Killer Whale Orcinus orca never attacking humans - there are reported but isolated cases of them attacking their trainers.

    By Blogger Rich Knight, at April 01, 2007 1:18 PM  

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