We are pleased to announce the publication of the following paper: Archer FI, Morin PA, Hancock-Hanser BL, Robertson KM, Leslie MS, Bérubé M, Panigada S, Taylor, BL (2013) Mitogenomic Phylogenetics of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus spp.): Genetic Evidence for Revision of Subspecies. PLoS ONE 8(5): e63396. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063396 available online at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063396 Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Cheers, Eric Archer Abstract There are three described subspecies of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus): B. p. physalus Linnaeus, 1758 in the Northern Hemisphere, B. p. quoyi Fischer, 1829 in the Southern Hemisphere, and a recently described pygmy form, B. p. patachonica Burmeister, 1865. The discrete distribution in the North Pacific and North Atlantic raises the question of whether a single Northern Hemisphere subspecies is valid. We assess phylogenetic patterns using ~16 K base pairs of the complete mitogenome for 154 fin whales from the North Pacific, North Atlantic - including the Mediterranean Sea - and Southern Hemisphere. A Bayesian tree of the resulting 136 haplotypes revealed several well-supported clades representing each ocean basin, with no haplotypes shared among ocean basins. The North Atlantic haplotypes (n = 12) form a sister clade to those from the Southern Hemisphere (n = 42). The estimated time to most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) for this Atlantic/Southern Hemisphere clade and 81 of the 97 samples from the North Pacific was approximately 2 Ma. 14 of the remaining North Pacific samples formed a well-supported clade within the Southern Hemisphere. The TMRCA for this node suggests that at least one female from the Southern Hemisphere immigrated to the North Pacific approximately 0.37 Ma. These results provide strong evidence that North Pacific and North Atlantic fin whales should not be considered the same subspecies, and suggest the need for revision of the global taxonomy of the species. -- Eric Archer, Ph.D. Southwest Fisheries Science Center NMFS, NOAA 8901 La Jolla Shores Drive La Jolla, CA 92037 USA 858-546-7121 (work) 858-546-7003 (FAX) Marine Mammal Genetics Group: swfsc.noaa.gov/prd-mmgenetics ETP Cetacean Assessment Program: swfsc.noaa.gov/prd-etp "The universe doesn't care what you believe. The wonderful thing about science is that it doesn't ask for your faith, it just asks for your eyes." - Randall Munroe "Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." - Benjamin Franklin "...but I'll take a GPS over either one." - John C. "Craig" George