Taeniurops Garman, 1913

Last, Peter R., Naylor, Gavin J. P. & Manjaji-Matsumoto, B. Mabel, 2016, A revised classification of the family Dasyatidae (Chondrichthyes: Myliobatiformes) based on new morphological and molecular insights, Zootaxa 4139 (3), pp. 345-368 : 357

Genus Taeniurops Garman, 1913

Taeniurops (subgenus of Taeniura ) Garman, 1913:399. Type species Taeniura meyeni Müller & Henle, 1841 ; by subsequent designation (Fowler, 1941).

Definition. Large to very large dasyatids (adults to 100–180 cm DW) characterised by the following: robust, almost circular disc; snout obtuse to broadly angular (2–2.2 times combined orbit and spiracle length); eye small and protruding slightly; nasal curtain broadly skirt-shaped; mouth medium-sized, with ~7 oral papillae (in T. meyeni ); tail firm and short (length slightly exceeding DW), its base rather broad and depressed; pelvic fins small, subrectangular, not protruding, inner margin long; dorsal fold absent; ventral fold deep with a long base; caudal sting positioned rather anteriorly on tail (distance from pectoral-fin insertion to caudal-sting base 2–2.3 times interspiracular width); skin rough in adults and denticle band absent; continuous strip of small median thorns on disc and tail in most adults, scapular thorns present or absent; tail prickly; strong dorsal colour plain or heavily black and white blotched; ventral disc white with dark margins; tail uniformly black; Atlantic (including the Mediterranean Sea) and Indo– West Pacific.

Species. T. grabata (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817) and T. meyeni (Müller & Henle, 1841) .

Remarks. Formerly placed within Taeniura (e.g. Last & Stevens, 1994; Last & Compagno, 1999) and later resurrected by Last & Stevens (2009), T. meyeni forms a monophyletic group with its cognate T. grabata , outside the subfamily Neotrygoninae and within the Dasyatinae , close to Dasyatis (see Fig. 1). The two Taeniurops species are morphologically distinct from other Dasyatinae in disc shape (almost circular) and ventral tail fold morphology (fold unusually deep and continuous to tail tip).