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 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Clade: | Batomorphi |
| Order: | Myliobatiformes |
| Family: | Gymnuridae Fowler, 1934 |
| Genus: | Gymnura van Hasselt, 1823 |
| Type species | |
| Gymnura micrura Bloch & Schneider, 1801
| |
| Synonyms | |
| |
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
editThere are currently 12 species in this genus (others are considered synonyms):[2][6][7]
Diet
editThese species commonly prey on fish, crustaceans and mollusks.
- 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 lessae (Yokota & Carvalho, 2017) – 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 sereti (Yokota & Carvalho, 2017) – butterfly ray
- Gymnura tentaculata (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841) – Tentacled butterfly ray
- Gymnura zonura (Bleeker, 1852) – Zonetail butterfly ray
References
edit- ^ 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.
- ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Gymnura". FishBase. January 2017 version.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Gymnuridae". FishBase. January 2006 version.
- ^ "Gymnuridae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 27 March 2006.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.