[3] Gray, in an 1874 response, doubted Hector's identification and thought the jaw likely from a new species, which he provisionally named Dolichodon traversii in honor of Travers, the collector.

[5][6] A damaged calvaria (the top of the skull) was found washed up on Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile, in 1993 and was described as a new species, Mesoplodon bahamondi or Bahamonde's beaked whale.

[7] A calvaria found at White Island in New Zealand in the 1950s went unidentified for about 40 years, until in 1999 it was identified as being from a ginkgo-toothed beaked whale (Mesoplodon ginkgodens).

At the time they were thought to be Gray's beaked whale (Mesoplodon grayi), and were buried at the beach after photographs, measurements and tissue samples were taken.

The skeletons were exhumed, without the female's skull, which had washed out to sea, and were taken to Te Papa, New Zealand's national museum.

[9][10][11][12] On 4 July 2024, a dead 5-metre (16 ft) male blackish-silver specimen washed ashore near Taieri Mouth, on the southern east coast of the South Island, New Zealand.

[13] Samples from the intact specimen were taken by the Department of Conservation and sent to the University of Auckland's Cetacean Tissue Archive for DNA testing.

[17] The common name was chosen because the part of the tooth that protrudes from the gums (unlike the strap-like teeth of strap-toothed whales) has a shape similar to the tip of a flensing spade as used by 19th-century whalers.

The cow was spindle-shaped, with a triangular dorsal fin with a concave trailing edge set about two-thirds the way back.