New River Dolphin Species Found in Brazil River (PHOTO)

They are the river dolphin species. The new river dolphin species have been discovered by scientists in the waters of the Araguaia River Basin in Brazil. This is the first such discovery in nearly 100 years.

According to National Geographic, the river dolphins (known as Araguaian botos, or Inia araguaiaensis) are among the rarest, and most endangered, dolphins in the world. Three of the four known species are listed as “threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The discovery is “amazing because we’re starting to get insights into how these animals become distinct species.”

Scientists led by Tomas Hrbek of the Universidade Federal do Amazonas in Manaus, Brazil, published the findings in PLOS ONE on January 22. Read the full abstract below:

“True river dolphins are some of the rarest and most endangered of all vertebrates. They comprise relict evolutionary lineages of high taxonomic distinctness and conservation value, but are afforded little protection. We report the discovery of a new species of a river dolphin from the Araguaia River basin of Brazil, the first such discovery in nearly 100 years. The species is diagnosable by a series of molecular and morphological characters and diverged from its Amazonian sister taxon 2.08 million years ago. The estimated time of divergence corresponds to the separation of the Araguaia-Tocantins basin from the Amazon basin. This discovery highlights the immensity of the deficit in our knowledge of Neotropical biodiversity, as well as vulnerability of biodiversity to anthropogenic actions in an increasingly threatened landscape. We anticipate that this study will provide an impetus for the taxonomic and conservation reanalysis of other taxa shared between the Araguaia and Amazon aquatic ecosystems, as well as stimulate historical biogeographical analyses of the two basins.”

Howard Rosenbaum, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Ocean Giants program in New York, told National Geographic that the team in Brazil “did an admirable job in collecting a good amount of data on a species that is difficult to study in the wild.”

Rosenbaum, who specializes in genetic differentiation of dolphin and whale species, said the researchers had published “very robust data” showing genetic and physical differences between the Araguaian boto and other dolphins.

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