Butterfly ray
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.
| Butterfly rays | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Smooth butterfly ray (G. micrura) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Subclass: | |
| Order: | |
| Family: | Gymnuridae Fowler, 1934 |
| Genus: | Gymnura van Hasselt, 1823 |
| Type species | |
| Gymnura micrura Bloch & Schneider, 1801 | |
| Synonyms | |
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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 12 species in this genus (others are considered synonyms):[2][6][7]
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
- Gymnura lessae Yokota & Carvalho, 2017– butterfly ray
- Gymnura sereti Yokota & Carvalho, 2017– 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.
- Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, 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 (eds.). 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; Yearsley (eds.). "The Rays of the World project - an explanation of nomenclatural decisions". Rays of the World. CSIRO: 1–10.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
- Yokota, L. and M.R. de Carvalho (2017). "Taxonomic and morphological revision of butterfly rays of Gymnura micrura (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) species complex, with the description of two new species (Myliobatiformes: Gymnuridae)". Zootaxa. 4332: 1–74.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
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