Sibusisiwe Ngqulana

Nelson Mandela University | NMMU · Department of Zoology

The common dolphins (genus Delphinus) are widely distributed in all temperate and tropical oceans. Over this wide geographical distribution they show considerable range in morphological variation, which has led to descriptions of several species in the genus. Until recently, only two species of Delphinus were accepted, but this classification has b...

Taxonomy plays an important role in conservation biology. Despite the variety of methods used to differentiate units, some groups, such as Delphinidae within the Cetacea have proven difficult to untangle. This study aimed to shed light on morphological variation of the genus Tursiops in South African waters using geometric morphometrics and to dist...

We examined external morphometric parameters in incidentally caught long-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus capensis) from the east coast of South Africa for evidence of sexual dimorphism. We evaluated sexual dimorphism and allometric growth in 26 external body measurements from 211 individuals and assessed size and shape dimorphism. Most characteri...

The taxonomy of bottlenose dolphins Tursiops spp. and Delphinus spp. remains unresolved with suggestions that animals from Southern Africa may represent a separate clade. We used a molecular analysis of museum specimens to investigate this. Despite inherent difficulties, analysis of DNA for preserved material (“ancient” DNA) has been extensively ut...

The Mfolozi–Msunduzi estuarine system historically shared a common mouth with the St Lucia estuarine system. In 1952, a separate mouth was created, 1.5 km south of St Lucia mouth, to prevent silt carried by the Mfolozi River from entering Lake St Lucia. Despite its proximity to the comparatively well-studied St Lucia Estuary, there is very little i...