Genetic Testing Reveals New Dolphin Species

DNA analysis of bottlenose dolphins off the Southern Coast of Australia revealed a new species, fifty years after the last was discovered.  Luciana Moller from Macquarie University and colleagues were studying the known Indo-Pacific dolphins but after genetic testing they discovered that the dolphin populations living off the shores close to Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia were a new species of bottlenose dolphins who looked the same as the species discovered half a century ago.

The team has called the new species the Southern Australian bottlenose. It is awaiting a scientific name after a formal description.