Right whale dolphins Lissodelphis borealis (Peale, 1849) and Lissodelphis peronii (Lacépède, 1804)

The genus Lissodelphis (Gloger, 1841) consists of two species of finless dolphins in the family Delphinidae. The two species, Lissodelphis borealis (northern right whale dolphin) and L. peronii (southern right whale dolphin), have a somewhat complicated taxonomic and nomenclatural history reviewed by Hershkovitz (1966) and more recently by Jefferson (2021a). The earliest name for the northern species, Lagenorhynchus thicolea Gray, is a nomen oblitum, and the later name, Lissodelphis borealis (based on Delphinapterus borealis Peale), is considered the valid name, preserved as a nomen protectum (Jefferson, 2021b). Other nominal species of the southern right whale dolphin include the names Delphinus leucoramphus Lacépède, 1804, Delphinus bicolor Gray, 1846, Delphinapterus lessonii Philippi, 1893, Delphinapterus peronii Lesson and Garnot, 1826, and Prodelphinus gervaisi Trouessart, 1899 (see Jefferson, 2021a). These two species are the only members of the genus Lissodelphis, whose name is derived from the Greek, with lisso meaning smooth and delphis meaning dolphin.