Euphysetes grayii Macleay (Wall 1851

Euphysetes grayii Wall, 1851

Aust. Mus. Mem. 1: 37, plate 2. (31 December 1851).

Common name. Pygmy Sperm Whale.

Current name. Kogia breviceps (de Blainville, 1838), following Perrin (2009f).

Holotype. PA.368 by subsequent determination. The original entry against PA. 368 in Palmer’s hand states only “ Kogia greyi [sic] Maroubra nr Coogee skeleton Type specimen”. A subsequent entry in red ink “C.40/64” was most likely done during preparation of the X Register and refers to documentation thought to be associated with the specimen. Sex not determined, skull, right dentary and incomplete skeleton. The animal was stranded during September 1850 (Wall, 1851: 37) on “Maroobrah beach” and Wall describes how he collected the skeletal material. The donor or presenter of the specimen is not given in Palmer’s entry in the P Register.

Condition. Incomplete cranium; right dentary only, both the cranium and dentary are missing all teeth. Cranium missing anterior tip of rostrum, hole in the right dentary. Incomplete skeleton.A letter associated with the specimen (AMArchives AMS7 Letters Received, C:40.64.03) mentions that the type specimen was a mounted but “very imperfect” skull and skeleton: left dentary is missing (never recovered), teeth that have been recovered but not all have been placed in the skull (artificial teeth have been fitted), left anterior flipper is incomplete (never recovered), left ribs are missing (never recovered), sternum missing (middle and terminal bones recovered), also missing were the hyoids, four chevron bones and pelvic bones.

Type locality. Maroubra beach, Sydney (Wall, 1851), NSW, Australia.

Comments. The P Register indicates that the holotype is PA.368. The skull currently thought to be PA.368 does not have the original metal Palmer tag and further work is required to validate that it is Wall’s original. During the 19th century authorship was commonly attributed to William Sharp Macleay and cited as Euphysetes grayii Macleay, 1851 or Euphysetes grayii Macleay (Wall), 1851, in the belief that it was Macleay’s work published dishonorably under Wall’s name (see Schulte, 1917) but Wall is the correct citation.