Boto

An Amazon river dolphin

Boto is a Portuguese name given to several types of dolphin and river dolphin native to the Amazon and the Orinoco river tributaries. A few botos exist exclusively in freshwater, and these are often considered primitive dolphins.

Classification

The botos are a paraphyletic group, defined largely by their evolutionary convergences.

The genus Sotalia is divided into two species. The costero (S. guianensis) is distributed in the Atlantic, from Florianopolis in Santa Catarina, Brazil and northwards. The tucuxi (S. fluviatilis) lives in the rivers of the Amazon.

Burmeister's porpoise (Phocoena spinipinnis) is marine and lives from Santa Catarina to the south.

The Amazon river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) thrive in fresh water, are endemic of the Amazon rivers, and are placed in the vulnerable category of the IUCN.

The la Plata dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei), another vulnerable Brazilian denizen, is a marine river dolphin that ranges from Espírito Santo, Brazil, to the south.

• Suborder Odontoceti

• Superfamily Delphinoidea

• Family Delphinidae

• Genus Sotalia

• Species Sotalia fluviatilis, tucuxi
• Species Sotalia guianensis, costero

• Family Phocoenidae

• Genus Phocoena

• Species Phocoena spinipinnis, Burmeister's porpoise

• Superfamily Platanistoidea

• Family Iniidae

• Genus Inia

• Species Inia geoffrensis

• Subspecies Inia geoffrensis geoffrensis, Amazon river dolphin
• Subspecies Inia geoffrensis boliviensis, Bolivian river dolphin
• Subspecies Inia geoffrensis humboldtiana, Humboldt's river dolphin

• Family Pontoporiidae

• Genus Pontoporia

• Species Pontoporia blainvillei, la Plata dolphin