Researchers have discovered a new mintage of river dolphinfish for the first prison term in since 1918 in Brazil . regrettably , it might be lost as quickly as it was discovered due to home ground destruction . The discovery was made by a group of investigator led by Tomas Hrbek of the Federal University of Amazonas and was published inPLOS One .
The fresh discovered dolphin has been namedInia araguaiaensis , or the Araguarian Boto . Hrbek and his team made the discovery in Brazil ’s Araguaia River drainage area . This expanse is fairly well populated and the dolphins are seen quite frequently , but until genetic sequencing and skull comparison were completed , they were assumed to be members ofI. geoffrensis . However , sinceI. araguaiaensisis physically isolated , Hrbek and his team surmise that it was a new species and start to investigate . He notes : “ It is an area where people see them all the metre , they are a big mammal , the matter is nobody really looked . ”
Analysis of the mitochondrial genome divulge thatI. araguaiaensisdiverged fromI. geoffrensisabout 2.08 million long time ago , around the same time that the Araguaia River shifted to empty into the Atlantic Ocean or else of the Amazon River . There are some morphological differences between the two species as well . I. araguaiaensishas a smaller skull than its sister taxonomic group , which leaves them with 24 tooth in each jaw , whereasother species can have about 25 - 29 .
The discovery ofI. araguaiaensisbrings the total number of living river mahimahi metal money up to five . TheYangtze river mahimahi was officially declared extinctin 2006 . Three of the continue specie look close at hand danger of quenching , as they are on theIUCN ’s Red List .
Some expert , however , are debating thatI. araguaiaensisis indeed a new specie , and not a race ofI. geoffrensis . Hrbek read their skepticism , but maintains that there is no indicant within the mitochondrial genomes that the two species have a portion out lineage .
It is estimated that there are only around 1,000 individuals in this species in the Araguaia River catchment area . The dolphins ’ population trends will have to be closely monitored to determine their preservation status and if they require legal protection . Habitat devastation is the biggest problem the cetaceans face , as a hydroelectric decameter has been choking off their nutrient supplying for the last 50 years . They have also been know tosteal from fishermen ’s nets , which can result in the dolphin getting shoot if they are catch .
