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Research dossier · General Reference

Dolphin

Informal classification of marine mammals, closely related to whales and porpoises

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 20, 2026
Entity authoritySource title only
Source-derived summary

A dolphin is any one of the 40 extant species of aquatic mammal from the cetacean families Delphinidae, Platanistidae, Iniidae, Pontoporiidae, and the probably extinct Lipotidae. All these families belong to the parvorder Odontoceti, i.e., toothed whales, which also include the closely related families Monodontidae and Phocoenidae (porpoises), as well as the more distant families Physeteroidea and Ziphiidae.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dolphin” as informal classification of marine mammals, closely related to whales and porpoises. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current 58-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Dolphin, Informal and classification can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as informal classification of marine mammals, closely related to whales and porpoises. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Dolphin”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Dolphin primary sources, Dolphin archive and Dolphin research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dolphin”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Dolphin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.