NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Hector's Beaked Whale
Mesoplodon hectori (Gray, 1871)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
This W3C-unspecified vector image was created with Inkscape .Size comparison of an average human and a Hector's beaked whale (Mesoplodon hectori).
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Open encyclopedia reference
Hector's beaked whale (Mesoplodon hectori) is a small mesoplodont living in the Southern Hemisphere. This whale is named after Sir James Hector, a founder of the colonial museum in Wellington, New Zealand. The species has rarely been seen in the wild.
Some data supposedly referring to this species, especially juveniles and males, turned out to be based on the misidentified specimens of Perrin's beaked whale - especially since the adult male of Hector's beaked whale was only more recently described.
Wikipedia contributors, Hector's beaked whale; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:11:13.770622+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Mesoplodon hectori (Gray, 1871)
- Name authority
- (Gray, 1871)
- Common name
- Hector's Beaked Whale
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Cetacea
- Family
- Hyperoodontidae
- Genus
- Mesoplodon
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderCetacea Brisson, 1762
- suborderOdontoceti Flower, 1867
- familyHyperoodontidae Gray, 1846
- genusMesoplodon Gervais, 1850
- speciesMesoplodon hectori (Gray, 1871)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Mesoplodon. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| North Atlantic beaked whaleMesoplodon bidens (Sowerby, 1804) | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Hubbs' Beaked WhaleMesoplodon carlhubbsi Moore, 1963 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Blainville's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon densirostris (Blainville, 1817) | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ginkgo-toothed Beaked WhaleMesoplodon ginkgodens Nishiwaki & Kamiya, 1958 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Gray's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon grayi von Haast, 1876 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Deraniyagala's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon hotaula Deraniyagala, 1963 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bering Sea beaked whaleMesoplodon stejnegeri True, 1885 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ramari's beaked whaleMesoplodon eueu Carroll, McGowen, McCarthy, Marx, Aguilar, Dalebout, Dreyer, Gaggiotti, Hansen et al., 2021 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Antillean beaked whaleMesoplodon europaeus (Gervais, 1855) | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Layard's beaked whaleMesoplodon layardii (Gray, 1865) | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| True's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon mirus True, 1913 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Perrin's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon perrini Dalebout, Mead, Baker, Baker & van Helden, 2002 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Berardius hectori Gray, 1871 Gray, 1871 | synonym |
| Mesoplodon knoxi Hector, 1873 Hector, 1873 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Eastern Atlantic Ocean
Indo-West Pacific
Western Atlantic Ocean
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180507 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4256L. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.