Data from: Mitogenomic phylogenetics of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus spp.): genetic evidence for revision of subspecies

There are three described subspecies of fin whales (Balaenoptera
physalus): B. p. physalus Linnaeus, 1758 in the Northern Hemisphere, B. p.
quoyi Fischer, 1829 in the Southern Hemisphere, and a recently described
pygmy form, B. p. patachonica Burmeister, 1865. The discrete distribution
in the North Pacific and North Atlantic raises the question of whether a
single Northern Hemisphere subspecies is valid. We assess phylogenetic
patterns using ~16 K base pairs of the complete mitogenome for 154 fin
whales from the North Pacific, North Atlantic - including the
Mediterranean Sea - and Southern Hemisphere. A Bayesian tree of the
resulting 136 haplotypes revealed several well-supported clades
representing each ocean basin, with no haplotypes shared among ocean
basins. The North Atlantic haplotypes (n = 12) form a sister clade to
those from the Southern Hemisphere (n = 42). The estimated time to most
recent common ancestor (TMRCA) for this Atlantic/Southern Hemisphere clade
and 81 of the 97 samples from the North Pacific was approximately 2 Ma. 14
of the remaining North Pacific samples formed a well-supported clade
within the Southern Hemisphere. The TMRCA for this node suggests that at
least one female from the Southern Hemisphere immigrated to the North
Pacific approximately 0.37 Ma. These results provide strong evidence that
North Pacific and North Atlantic fin whales should not be considered the
same subspecies, and suggest the need for revision of the global taxonomy
of the species.