MYLIOBATIDAE (EAGLE RAYS)

Henderson, Aaron C., Reeve, Alan J., Jabado, Rima W. & Naylor, Gavin J. P., 2016, Taxonomic assessment of sharks, rays and guitarfishes (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii) from south-eastern Arabia, using the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (NADH 2) gene, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 176 (2), pp. 399-442 : 430-431

MYLIOBATIDAE (EAGLE RAYS)

Three species were assessed and they formed separate clusters, exhibiting a between-group mean distance of 10.26 ± 0.51%. Two specimens identified as Aetobatus ocellatus during the present study clustered with two specimens from Qatar, which Naylor et al. (2012) designated A. cf. ocellatus 2, due to their clustering away from Pacific specimens ( A. ocellatus ) and a single specimen from Mozambique ( A. cf. ocellatus 1).

Two species of Aetomylaeus were also included in the analysis, namely A. nichofii and A. milvus , and they exhibited a between-group mean distance of 18.43 ± 1.33%. Naylor et al. (2012) noted a division within their A. nichofii specimens, with specimens from the Persian Gulf and Australia clustering beside the bulk of their specimens, which came from Borneo. The clusters were therefore designated A. nichofii (Borneo) , A. cf. nichofii 1 (Persian Gulf) and A. cf. 1, Acroteriobatus salalah ; 2, Acroteriobatus sp. ; 3, Glaucostegus halavi ; 4, Rhinobatos sp. (cluster A); 5, Rhinobatos sp. (cluster B); 6, Rhinobatos punctifer .

this contained A. salalah and the other undescribed species, which was designated Acroteriobatus sp. ( Fig. 8 ). These congeners also exhibit a high between-group mean distance. The final rhinobatid species was Glaucostegus halavi . None of these species was reported by Naylor et al. (2012); however, when viewed alongside closely related taxa all the clusters remained distinct ( Fig. 9 ).

nichofii 2 ( Australia). All the current specimens clustered with A. cf. nichofii 1. The current A. milvus specimens clustered with two Persian Gulf specimens reported by Naylor et al. (2012).

Figures

Figure 8. Rhinobatos sp. (top) is morphologically and genetically distinct from Rhinobatos punctifer (middle). The bottom image shows Acroteriobatus sp.

Figure 9. Neighbour-joining tree for an 829-bp fragment of the NADH2 gene for rhinobatid elasmobranchs from southeastern Arabia together with related taxa from Naylor et al. (2012). Bootstrap values are based on 1000 replications and only values ≥ 95 % are shown.