South Asian river dolphin display the variances needed to support their classification as separate species. Thus, at present, a single species with two subspecies is recognized in the genus "Platanista", "P. g. gangetica" (Ganges river dolphin) and "P. g. minor" (Indus river dolphin). An assessment of divergence rates in mitochondrial DNA of the two subspecies indicates that they diverged from a common ancestor around 550,000 years ago. This ancestor is thought to have been a marine Platanistid inhabiting the epi-continental seas in South Asia during the sea level rises in the middle Miocene. The earliest fossil identified as belonging to the species is only
Endangered Species Act of 1969 such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It also stated that species on the foreign endangered list could not be brought into the United States. The 1969 act further amended other existing laws to prohibit throughout the United States the sale or purchase by any person of any domestically endangered species or part or product thereof that was taken in any manner in violation of the laws or regulations of a state or foreign country. It also established the framework for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITIES which, "accords varying