NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
True's Beaked Whale
Mesoplodon mirus True, 1913
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
True's beaked whale (Mesoplodon mirus) is a medium-sized whale in the genus Mesoplodon. It is native to the northern Atlantic Ocean. The common name is in reference to Frederick W. True, a curator at the United States National Museum (now the Smithsonian).
Wikipedia contributors, True'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 2026-10-05T08:17:10.815051+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Mesoplodon mirus True, 1913
- Name authority
- True, 1913
- Common name
- True'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 mirus True, 1913
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 |
| Hector's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon hectori (Gray, 1871) | 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 |
| Perrin's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon perrini Dalebout, Mead, Baker, Baker & van Helden, 2002 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
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=180508 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:4256R. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.