Butterfly rays
Smooth butterfly ray (G. micrura)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Superorder: Batoidea
Order: Myliobatiformes
Suborder: Myliobatoidei
Superfamily: Dasyatoidea
Family: Gymnuridae
Fowler, 1934
Genus: Gymnura
van Hasselt, 1823
Type species
Gymnura micrura
Bloch & Schneider, 1801
Synonyms
  • Aetoplatea Valenciennes in J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841
  • Dasyatis Gray, 1851
  • Phanerocephalus Gratzianov, 1906
  • Pteroplatea J. P. Müller & Henle, 1837

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. (1996) 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)

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2017). Species of Gymnura in FishBase. January 2017 version.
  3. ^ McEachran JD, Dunn KA, Miyake T (1996). "Interrelationships of the batoid fishes (Chondrichthyes: Batoidea)". In Stiassny ML, Parenti LR, Johnson GD (eds.). Interrelationships of Fishes. Academic Press.
  4. ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Gymnuridae" in FishBase. January 2006 version.
  5. ^ "Gymnuridae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 27 March 2006.
  6. ^ Last P, White W, de Carvalho M, Séret B, Stehmann M, Naylor G, eds. (2016). "Supplementary information". The Rays of the World project - an explanation of nomenclatural decisions. CSIRO. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-0-643109131.
  7. ^ Yokota L, de Carvalho MR (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): 1–74. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4332.1.1. PMID 29242452.
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