Delphinidae — Synonyms

Dolphins, Killer Whales, Pilot Whales, and Relatives learn more about names for this taxon

Sometimes taxonomists create new names for groups that already have a name. They may do this because they are unaware of the original name, or they may think the organism before them belongs to a different group when in fact it does not. If two or more names are found to apply to the same group, they are considered synonyms. In most cases, the first name takes priority and is considered to be the valid or accepted name. However, there can be exceptions, and it's not always easy to determine which of a series of synonyms should be considered valid or accepted. Here we list the synonyms provided to EOL by our classification partners. We also include other versions of the name that most likely refer to the same group, for example, misspellings in the literature or different variations of the authorship associated with the name.

Preferred marks the preferred name from each source.

Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)

Name Relationship
Delphinidae Gray, 1821 Preferred
Globicephalidae Gray, 1850 Junior synonym
Stenidae Fraser and Purves, 1960 Other, see comments
Orcinae Fraser and Purves, 1960 Other, see comments
Lissodelphinae Fraser and Purves, 1960 Other, see comments
Cephalorhynchinae Fraser and Purves, 1960 Junior synonym

Paleobiology Database

Name Relationship
Delphinidae Gray, 1821 Preferred
Hemisyntrachelidae Slijper, 1936 Heterotypic synonym
Holodontidae Brandt 1873 Heterotypic synonym
Tursiops miocaenus Portis 1886 Invalid
Trispondylus Vanden Broeck 1874 Invalid
Stenidae Fraser and Purves, 1960 Heterotypic synonym
Steninae (Fraser and Purves 1960) Heterotypic synonym
Cephalorhynchinae (Fraser and Purves 1960) Heterotypic synonym
Grampidelphidae Nishiwaki 1963 Heterotypic synonym
Steno cudmorei Chapman 1917 Invalid
Delphinus chilensis Philippi, 1896 Invalid
Prodelphinus malayanus (Lesson 1826) Invalid
Delphinus malayanus Lesson 1826 Invalid
Steno malayanus (Lesson 1826) Invalid

NCBI Taxonomy

Name Relationship
Delphinidae Preferred
dolphins In-part

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