Bryde's‐like whales are a complex of medium‐sized baleen whales that occur in tropical waters of all three major ocean basins. Currently, a single species of Bryde's whale, Balaenoptera edeni Anderson, 1879, is recognized, with two subspecies, Eden's whale, B. edeni edeni and Bryde's whale, B. edeni brydei (Olsen, 1913), although some authors have recognized these as separate species. Recently, a new, evolutionarily divergent lineage of Bryde's‐like whale was identified based on genetic data and was found to be restricted primarily to the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOMx). Here, we provide the first morphological examination of a complete skull from these whales and identify diagnostic characters that distinguish it from the other medium‐sized baleen whale taxa. In addition, we have increased the number of genetic samples of these Bryde's‐like whales in the GOMx from 23 to 36 individuals, all of which matched the GOMx lineage. A review of Bryde's‐like whale records in the Caribbean and greater Atlantic supports an isolated distribution for this unique lineage, augmenting the genetic and morphological body of evidence supporting the existence of an undescribed species of Balaenoptera from the Gulf of Mexico.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥湾的一种新的须鲸（Balaenoptera），并对其地理分布进行了回顾

布瑞德（Bryde）样的鲸鱼是中型Baleen鲸鱼的复合体，它们发生在所有三个主要海盆的热带水域中。目前，公认的布莱德鲸的单一物种Balaenoptera edeni Anderson，1879年，有两个亚种，伊甸鲸，B。edeni edeni和布莱德鲸，B。edeni brydei。（Olsen，1913），尽管一些作者已经将它们视为独立的物种。最近，根据遗传数据确定了一种新的，进化上不同的布莱德氏鲸血统，并发现其主要限于墨西哥北部海湾（GOMx）。在这里，我们提供了从这些鲸鱼获得的完整头骨的首次形态学检查，并确定了将其与其他中型鲸鱼类群区分开的诊断特征。此外，我们将GOMx中这些Bryde样鲸的遗传样本数量从23个增加到36个，所有这些都与GOMx谱系匹配。回顾加勒比和大大西洋地区布赖德（Bryde）的鲸鱼记录，可以证明该独特血统的孤立分布，来自墨西哥湾的Balaenoptera。