Himantura undulata (Bleeker)

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 : 210-211

Himantura undulata (Bleeker)

( Figs. 2C , 7D )

A single, immature specimen of what appears to be Himantura undulata (SL-33) was examined at the Munai market in Point Pedro in the Northern Province. Its color pattern was similar to that of the immature specimen from Indonesian Borneo used as the reference specimen of H. undulata (KA-326; JQ518803 ) in the analysis. The dorsal surfaces of both specimens bear large, irregular brown spots, some of which are fused into bands, surrounded by narrow yellow margins. In the tree resulting from Neighbor-Joining analysis of NADH2 sequence data, which included representation of all four valid species of Himantura , this specimen grouped most closely with the specimen of H. undulata . It did, however, differ from that specimen by 14 bp. At this point, at least provisionally, we have identified the specimen from Sri Lanka as H. undulata . Additional work, especially on adult specimens, is required to confirm this identification.

This species is not among the dasyatids included in some of the major checklists (e.g., De Bruin et al. 1995; De Silva 2006) of the country. It was, however, included in the report of Morón et al. (1998) in which this name is used.

Figures

FIGURE 2. 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. Aetobatus (Aetobatidae). B. Brevitrygon (Dasyatidae). C. Himantura (Dasyatidae). D. Maculabatis (Dasyatidae). E. Neotrygon (Dasyatidae). F. Pastinachus (Dasyatidae). G. Pateobatis (Dasyatidae). H. Urogymnus (Dasyatidae).

FIGURE 7. Himantura tutul (A–C) and Himantura undulata (D) (Dasyatidae). A. Dorsal surface of mature female (SL-8); inset showing scapular denticles. B. Dorsal surface of mature female (SL-42); inset showing scapular denticles. C. Dorsal surface of immature male (SL-34); inset showing scapular denticles. D. Dorsal surface of immature male (SL-33); inset showing scapular denticles.