Revised taxonomy of eastern North Pacific killer whales (Orcinus orca): Bigg’s and resident ecotypes deserve species status

Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are currently recognized as a single ecologically and morphologically diverse, globally-distributed species. Multiple morphotypes or ecotypes have been described, often associated with feeding specialization, and several studies have suggested taxonomic revision to include multiple subspecies or species in the genus. We review the ecological, morphological and genetic data for the well-studied “resident” and Bigg’s (aka “transient”) ecotypes in the eastern North Pacific, and use quantitative taxonomic guidelines and standards to determine whether the taxonomic status of these killer whale ecotypes should be revised. Our review and new analyses indicate that species-level status is justified in both cases, and we conclude that eastern North Pacific Bigg’s killer whales should be recognized as Orcinus rectipinnus (Cope in Scammon, 1869), and resident killer whales should be recognized as Orcinus ater (Cope in Scammon, 1869)., Dataset information has been previously published, and re-analyzed as described in the supplemental materials for the current publication., , # Revised taxonomy of eastern North Pacific killer whales (Orcinus orca): Bigg’s and resident ecotypes deserve species status

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d7wm37q5n](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d7wm37q5n)

Microsatellite genotypes from Parsons et al. 2013, filtered to include only samples of known ecotype, plus 5 unpublished offshore samples and genotype data that were not included in Parsons et al. (2013).

SNP genotypes from whole genome sequences from Kardos et al. (2023) (data provided by M. Kardos, Y. Zhang). 

Kardos, M., Zhang, Y., Parsons, K.M., A, Y., Kang, H., Xu, X., Liu, X., Matkin, C.O., Zhang, P., Ward, E.J., et al. 2023. Inbreeding depression explains killer whale population dynamics. Nat Ecol Evol 7:675-686

Parsons, K.M., Durban, J.W., Burdin, A.M., Burkanov, V.N., Pitman, R.L., Barlow, J., Barrett-Lennard, L.G., LeDuc, R.G., Robertson, K.M., Matkin, C.O., et al. 2013. Geographic Patterns of Genetic Differentiation among Killer Whales in the Northern North Pacific....