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Issue: Vol. 1671 No. 1: 1 Jan. 2008
Type: Article
Published: 2008-01-01
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1671.1.3
Page range: 33–58
Abstract views: 72
PDF downloaded: 1

Three new legskates of the genus Sinobatis (Rajoidei: Anacanthobatidae) from the Indo–West Pacific

CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, 7001, Australia
IRD/Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Département Systématique et Evolution, UMS 602 “Taxonomie et Collections”, Case postale n° 51, 55 rue Buffon, 75231 Paris cedex 05, France
Pisces Sinobatis new species Anacanthobatidae Rajoidei legskate Indo–West Pacific

Abstract

Three new species of legskates (Anacanthobatidae) are described from the Indo–Australian region. Two of these species conform to the subgenus Sinobatis Hulley of Anacanthobatis von Bonde & Swart, which is herein elevated to genus level based primarily on clasper morphology. Sinobatis presently includes S. borneensis (South China Sea and Taiwan) and possibly S. melanosoma (East and South China Seas and Taiwan), as well as the new species, S. bulbicauda sp. nov. (eastern Indonesia and northwestern Australia, SE Indian Ocean) and S. filicauda sp. nov. (northeastern Australia, SE Pacific Ocean). The third new species, S. caerulea sp. nov. (northwestern Australia, SE Indian Ocean), is provisionally placed in Sinobatis in the absence of an adult male. The new species are distinguishable from each other, and from nominal Indo–Pacific legskates, based on their morphometrics, meristics, tail morphology and coloration. Legskates exhibit marked intraspecific variation in shape associated with their soft, flexible bodies, and considerable ontogenetic and sexual differentiation.

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