Butterfly ray
| Butterfly rays | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Smooth butterfly ray (G. micrura) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Order: | Myliobatiformes |
| Family: | Gymnuridae Fowler, 1934 |
| Genus: | Gymnura van Hasselt, 1823 |
| Type species | |
| Gymnura micrura Bloch & Schneider, 1801 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The butterfly rays are the rays forming the genus Gymnura and the family Gymnuridae. They are found in warm oceans worldwide, and occasionally in estuaries.
The body of butterfly rays is flattened and surrounded by an extremely broad disc formed by the pectoral fins, which merge in front of the head. They have a very short, thread-like, tail.[1] They are up to 4 m (13 ft) in width.[2]
McEachran et al. place the butterfly rays in the subfamily Gymnurinae of the family Dasyatidae,[3] but this article follows FishBase and ITIS in treating them as a family.[4][5]
Species
There are currently 10 species in this genus (others are considered synonyms):[2][6]
Spiny butterfly ray (Gymnura altavela)
- Gymnura altavela (Linnaeus, 1758) – Spiny butterfly ray
- Gymnura australis (E. P. Ramsay & Ogilby, 1886) – Australian butterfly ray
- Gymnura crebripunctata (W. K. H. Peters, 1869) – Longsnout butterfly ray
- Gymnura japonica (Temminck & Schlegel, 1850) – Japanese butterfly ray
- Gymnura marmorata (J. G. Cooper, 1864) – California butterfly ray
- Gymnura micrura (Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801) – Smooth butterfly ray
- Gymnura natalensis (Gilchrist & W. W. Thompson, 1911) – Backwater butterfly ray
- Gymnura poecilura (G. Shaw, 1804) – Longtail butterfly ray
- Gymnura tentaculata J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841 – Tentacled butterfly ray
- Gymnura zonura Bleeker, 1852 – Zonetail butterfly ray
References
- ↑ Stevens, J. & Last, P.R. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N., eds. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 69. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- 1 2 Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2017). Species of Gymnura in FishBase. January 2017 version.
- ↑ J. D. McEachran, K. A. Dunn & T. Miyake (1996). "Interrelationships of the batoid fishes (Chondrichthyes: Batoidea)". In M. L. Stiassny; L. R. Parenti; G. D. Johnson. Interrelationships of Fishes. Academic Press.
- ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Gymnuridae" in FishBase. January 2006 version.
- ↑ "Gymnuridae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 27 March 2006.
- ↑ Last; Naylor; Séret; de Carvalho; Corrigan; and Yang (2016). Last; and Yearsley, eds. "The Rays of the World project - an explanation of nomenclatural decisions". Rays of the World. CSIRO: 1–10.
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