Editing Common dolphin (section)

==Taxonomy==
[[File:Common Dolphin.jpg|thumb|left|"Short-beaked" common dolphin, Ireland]]
Despite the historic practice of lumping the entire genus ''Delphinus'' into a single species, these widely distributed dolphins exhibit a wide variety of sizes, shapes and colors. Indeed, over the past few decades, over 20 distinct species in the genus have been proposed. Scientists in California in the 1960s concluded there were two species&nbsp;— the long-beaked and short-beaked. The long-beaked common dolphin was thought to have a disjointed range in coastal areas in tropical and warmer temperate oceans.  The range included parts of western and southern [[Africa]], much of western [[South America]], central [[California]] to central [[Mexico]], coastal [[Peru]], areas around [[Japan]], [[Korea]] and [[Taiwan]], and possibly near [[Oman]].<ref name=encyc/> Vagrants have been recorded as far north as [[Vancouver Island]].
[[File:Delphinus capensis.JPG|thumb|"Long-beaked" common dolphin, California]]
This analysis was seemingly confirmed by a more in-depth [[genetic study]] in the 1990s. This study also suggested a third species (''D. tropicalis'', common name usually '''Arabian common dolphin''' or Indo-Pacific common dolphin), characterized by an extremely long and thin beak and found in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, might be distinguished from the long-beaked species. The current standard [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomic]] works recognize this as a subspecies of ''D. delphis'' rather than a separate species.

Recent evidence has demonstrated that different populations of long-beaked common dolphins around the world are not closely related to one another and are often derived from a short-beaked ancestor (as well as not sharing common derived characters). Therefore, long-beaked and short-beaked common dolphins are now listed  as the same species under the scientific name of ''Delphinus delphis''.<ref name="Handbook">{{Cite web|last=Handbook|first=Whale Watching|date=2020-07-10|title=Common Dolphin|url=https://wwhandbook.iwc.int/en/species/common-dolphin|access-date=2020-07-10|website=Whale Watching Handbook|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cunha|first1=Haydée A.|last2=Castro|first2=Rocio Loizaga de|last3=Secchi|first3=Eduardo R.|last4=Crespo|first4=Enrique A.|last5=Lailson-Brito|first5=José|last6=Azevedo|first6=Alexandre F.|last7=Lazoski|first7=Cristiano|last8=Solé-Cava|first8=Antonio M.|date=2015-11-11|title=Molecular and Morphological Differentiation of Common Dolphins (Delphinus sp.) in the Southwestern Atlantic: Testing the Two Species Hypothesis in Sympatry|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=10|issue=11|pages=e0140251|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0140251|issn=1932-6203|pmc=4641715|pmid=26559411|bibcode=2015PLoSO..1040251C |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=McGowen|first1=Michael R|last2=Tsagkogeorga|first2=Georgia|last3=Álvarez-Carretero|first3=Sandra|last4=dos Reis|first4=Mario|last5=Struebig|first5=Monika|last6=Deaville|first6=Robert|last7=Jepson|first7=Paul D|last8=Jarman|first8=Simon|last9=Polanowski|first9=Andrea|last10=Morin|first10=Phillip A|last11=Rossiter|first11=Stephen J|date=2019-10-21|title=Phylogenomic Resolution of the Cetacean Tree of Life Using Target Sequence Capture|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syz068|journal=Systematic Biology|volume=69|issue=3|pages=479–501|doi=10.1093/sysbio/syz068|issn=1063-5157|pmc=7164366|pmid=31633766}}</ref> Currently, the common dolphin is divided into four subspecies:<ref name="Handbook" /><ref name="mammalogy">{{cite web |url=https://www.marinemammalscience.org/species-information/list-marine-mammal-species-subspecies/|title=List of Marine Mammal Species and Subspecies{{!}}May 2022 |date=13 November 2016 |publisher=[[Society for Marine Mammalogy]] |access-date=1 May 2022}}</ref>
*''D. d. delphis'', the nominate subspecies
*''D. d. bairdii'', the  Eastern North Pacific long-beaked common dolphin (though some elevate this to species)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jefferson |first1=Thomas A. |last2=Archer |first2=Frederick I. |last3=Robertson |first3=Kelly M. |date=2024-04-30 |title=The long-beaked common dolphin of the eastern Pacific Ocean: Taxonomic status and redescription of Delphinus bairdii |journal=Marine Mammal Science |volume=40 |issue=4 |language=en |doi=10.1111/mms.13133 |issn=0824-0469|doi-access=free |bibcode=2024MMamS..40E3133J }}</ref>
*''D. d. ponticus'', the Black Sea common dolphin
*''D. d. tropicalis'', the Indo-Pacific common dolphin

===Fossil record===
Many extinct cetacean species were once lumped into ''Delphinus'', but have since been placed in other genera. In the late 19th century several fossil species were described, including taxa: ''Delphinus baltringii'', ''Delphinus delannoy'' and ''Delphinus domeykoi''. However, these species are no longer considered valid.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gutstein |first1=Carolina |title=Cetáceos fósiles de Chile: Contexto evolutivo y paleobiogeográfico |journal=Publicación Ocasional del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Chile |date=2015 |volume=63 |pages=339–383}}</ref> Another species known as ''Delphinus brevidens'' was reassigned to the genus ''Stereodelphis'' which is now generally considered synonymous with ''[[Squalodon]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Proceedings of the United States National Museum: Volume 62 |date=1923 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |page=10}}</ref>