Globicephala melas

Pilot whales are cetaceans belonging to the genus Globicephala. The two extant species are the long-finned pilot whale and the short-finned pilot whale. The two are not readily distinguishable at sea, and analysis of the skulls is the best way to distinguish between the species. Between the two species, they range nearly worldwide, with long-finned pilot whales living in colder waters and short-finned pilot whales living in tropical and subtropical waters. Pilot whales are among the largest of the oceanic dolphins, exceeded in size only by the orca. They and other large members of the dolphin family are also known as blackfish.

Globicephala melas

NOAA Photo Library · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
long-finned pilot whalePBDB
Sits inside
GlobicephalaPBDB
Diet
piscivore, carnivorePBDB, for Delphinidae
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti

Time the record covers

At least 762 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 774 ka to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 7.246 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 11 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 11 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 11 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 9 of 11 occurrences7.5–7.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.2–7.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.2–5.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.4–5.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.2–4.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.9–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.1–1.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.8–1.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.3–1.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.0–775 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences258 ka–0 Mya — about 10 occurrences774 ka – 11.7 ka7.7 Mya0 Mya

11 occurrences of Globicephala melas on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

11 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in the same rock

59 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 11 sites for Globicephala melas, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

7 references

Each of the 11 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Globicephala melas

Credit
NOAA Photo Library
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itGlobicephala through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Traill 1809)