Appendix – Specimen catalogue and institutional abbreviation

Species / Specimen details where known / Ontogenetic age where known / Source of information
Balaenoptera acutorostrata* / NMNZ MM002954 / Foetus/neonate? / Personal observation
NMV C24936 / Foetus/neonate? / Personal observation
USNM571015 / Foetus/neonate? / Personal observation
Balaenoptera borealis / NMNS M24943 / Foetus / Personal observation
USNM504244 / Subadult/adult / Best (2007), fig. 30A
NHM 1.5.7.12 / Foetus / Ridewood (1923), fig. 13A
Repository unknown / Foetus / Schulte (1916), plate LIV, fig. 1
Balaenoptera musculus / USNM124326 / Subadult/adult /
USNM268001 / Foetus / Personal observation
NHM 1.7.7.14 / Foetus / Ridewood (1923), fig. 13B
Balaenoptera physalus / NMNS M25041 / Foetus / Personal observation
USNM268725 / Foetus / Personal observation
USNM269151 / Foetus / Personal observation
USNM269153 / Foetus / Personal observation
USNM269156 / Foetus / Personal observation
USNM275765 / Foetus / Personal observation
USNM572539 / Foetus / Personal observation
USNM16039 / Subadult/adult / True (1904), plate I, fig. 3
Megaptera novaeangliae / USNM13656 / Subadult/adult /
NHM 9.31.10.11 / Foetus / Ridewood (1923), fig. 3
NHM 2.19.3.14 / Foetus / Ridewood (1923), fig. 8
Caperea marginata / NMNZ MM002230 / Subadult/adult / Personal observation
NMNZ MM002262 / Foetus/neonate? / Personal observation
NMNZ MM002898 / Foetus/neonate? / Personal observation
NMV C35964
OM VT227
USNM238720 / Foetus/neonate?
Subadult/adult
Subadult/adult / Personal observation
Personal observation

* Taxonomy of minke whale is still problematic, including Balaenoptera acutorostrata, Balaenoptera bonaerensis, and Antarctic dwarf minke. Thus, we use the species name of common minke, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, for this work.

NHM: Natural History Museum, London, UK; NMNS: National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan; NMNZ MM: National Museum of New Zealand Marine Mammal Collection, Wellington, New Zealand; NMV C; Museum Victoria Mammalogy Collection, Melbourne, Australia; OM: Otago Museum, Dunedin, New Zealand; USNM: United States National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., USA.

References

Best, P. B. (2007). Whales and dolphins of the southern African subregion. Cape Town: Cambridge University Press.

Ridewood, W. G. (1923). Observations on the skull in foetal specimens of whales of the genera Megaptera and Balaenoptera. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Containing Papers of a Biological Character, 211(382-390), 209-272.

Schulte, H. von. W. (1916). Anatomy of a foetus of Balaenoptera borealis. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, 1(6), 394-502.

True, F. W. (1904). The whalebone whales of the Western North Atlantic compared with those occurring in European waters with some observations on the species of the North Pacific.Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 33, 1-332.