Torpedo, Linnaeus, 1758

Fernando, Daniel, Bown, Rosalind M. K., Tanna, Akshay, Gobiraj, Ramajeyam, Ralicki, Hannah, Jockusch, Elizabeth L., Ebert, David A., Jensen, Kirsten & Caira, Janine N., 2019, New insights into the identities of the elasmobranch fauna of Sri Lanka, Zootaxa 4585 (2), pp. 201-238 : 221-222

Torpedo sp. 1

( Figs. 3D , 13C, D )

Three specimens of a species of Torpedo Duméril were examined from Point Pedro's Munai (SL-28) and Kottadi (SL-55, SL-56) markets in the Northern Province. Two of these specimens have been deposited in the BRT Ichthyology Collection (SL-28, BRT-I 0009; SL-56, BRT-I 0014). This species bears a conspicuous pale reticulated pattern, apparently formed by fused spots, on a dark brown dorsal surface and thus most closely resemble Torpedo sinuspersici von Olfers as characterized by de Carvalho et al. (2002). However, the number of pale spots composing the reticulations, and thus the size of the reticulations, is smaller than seen in T. sinuspersici . These three specimens differed from one another by 2–5 bp. In the tree resulting from our Neighbor-Joining analysis these specimens grouped most closely with T. sinuspersici ; however, they differed from our reference specimen of the latter species (MM-27; JQ518932 ) by 32–42 bp. Of the five members of the genus not included in our analysis, only T. panthera von Olfers bears reticulations on its dorsal surface. But, the white markings on the dorsal surface of the disc of the latter species are not clustered ( Last et al. 2016b). Our specimens differed from our reference specimen of Torpedo marmorata (SE-169; JQ518928 ) from Senegal by 110–148 bp. It seems likely that the Sri Lankan specimens represent an undescribed species of Torpedo , which we have referred to here as Torpedo sp. 1.

This may be the species referred to as Torpedo marmorata Risso by Morón et al. (1998).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Neighbor-Joining trees of p-distances based on 1,044 bp of aligned NADH2 sequence data for individual batoid genera or groups of genera. Taxon names are followed by country, host specimen number (in parentheses), and GenBank number. Outgroup taxa used in each analysis were omitted from the individual trees. Scale bar values indicate substitutions per site. Specimens deposited in the Blue Resources Trust Ichthyology Collection are indicted by stars (see text for details). A. Gymnura (Gymnuridae). B. Rhinoptera (Rhinopteridae). C. Acroteriobatus and Rhinobatos (Rhinobatidae). D. Torpediniformes.

FIGURE 13. Narcine sp. 1 (A, B) and Torpedo sp. 1 (C, D). A. Dorsal surface of maturing male (SL-29; BRT-I 0010). B. Oronasal region of maturing male (SL-29; BRT-I 0010). C. Dorsal surface of immature male (SL-28; BRT-I 0009); inset showing left eye, and spiracle with knobs and papillae. D. Oronasal region of immature male (SL-28; BRT-I 0009).