Although the naming of Sotalia fluviatilis is commonly credited to 'Gervais and Deville, 1853' in the recent literature, this is incorrect.The name Delphinus fluviatilis first appears in Gervais (1853) in a footnote on p. 148 referring to one of two freshwater dolphin species known to inhabit the tributaries of the Amazon in Bolivia and Peru (the other species being the boto, Inia).In this footnote Gervais states that in another work commenced by himself and Émile Deville they have given this name to the dolphin resembling ordinary dolphins but smaller and with a more indented beak (relative to Inia), which was discovered by Deville and Francis de Castelnau during their 1843 expedition to South America.A publication by Gervais and Deville apparently did not materialize, possibly due to Deville's death in 1853, and the formal description of Delphinus fluviatilis appeared instead in Gervais ( 1855), where he credits 'P.