PNW orcas won’t get separate species designation

Local orcas that had been proposed for classification as separate species did not make the cut. But resident and Bigg’s, or transient killer whales, will now be designated as distinct subspecies of orca, according to the Taxonomy Committee of the Society for Marine Mammalogy. The subspecies name for Bigg’s orcas will be Orcinus orca rectipinnus, referring in Latin to their upright dorsal, and the subspecies name for the resident orcas will be Orcinus orca ater (Latin for dark, or black). The common names, southern and northern resident, and Bigg’s, will...