Aetomylaeus caeruleofasciatus, a new species of eagle ray (Myliobatiformes: Myliobatidae) from northern Australia and New Guinea

A new species of eagle ray, Aetomylaeus caeruleofasciatus sp. nov., is described based on specimens collected in northern Australia and southern Papua New Guinea. The new species is very closely related to Aetomylaeus nichofii and was previously considered to be conspecific with this species. The ne...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ichthyological research 2016-01, Vol.63 (1), p.94-109
Main Authors: White, William T, Last, Peter R, Baje, Leontine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
adults
Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography
Biomedical and Life Sciences
color
Ecology
females
Fish
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
intraspecific variation
Life Sciences
males
Marine biology
Morphology
Myliobatidae
Myliobatididae
Myliobatiformes
neotypes
new species
Taxonomy
Zoology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A new species of eagle ray, Aetomylaeus caeruleofasciatus sp. nov., is described based on specimens collected in northern Australia and southern Papua New Guinea. The new species is very closely related to Aetomylaeus nichofii and was previously considered to be conspecific with this species. The new species and A. nichofii differ from their congeners in having a dorsal pattern of seven or eight transverse pale blue bands. As with other eagle ray species, morphological characteristics which distinguish the closely related species were largely obscured by intraspecific variation. The clearest morphological differences were apparent when comparing adult males to adult males and adult females to adult females, e.g. disc longer in adult female A. caeruleofasciatus compared to adult female A. nichofii. The two species also differ in the number of pelvic radials in both females and males and show subtle colour differences. A neotype is also allocated for A. nichofii.
ISSN:1341-8998
1616-3915
DOI:10.1007/s10228-015-0480-9