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Issue: Vol. 4819 No. 2: 23 Jul. 2020
Type: Article
Published: 2020-07-23
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4819.2.8
Page range: 364–374
Abstract views: 85
PDF downloaded: 4

Hemitrygon yemenensis sp. nov., a new species of stingray (Myliobatoidea: Dasyatidae) from the northwestern Indian Ocean

School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Menai Bridge, Anglesey, UNITED KINGDOM
CSIRO National Research Collections Australia-Australian National Fish Collection, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, TAS, 7001, AUSTRALIA
Florida Museum of Natural History, 1659 Museum Road, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA.
Hemitrygon yemenensis Dasyatidae stingray batoid elasmobranch new species Yemen western Indian Ocean Myliobatoidea

Abstract

A new stingray, Hemitrygon yemenensis sp. nov., is described from old preserved material collected on the Arabian Sea coast of eastern Yemen. Consistent with other members of the genus, H. yemenensis sp. nov. is a small dasyatid (males mature at ~22 cm disc width), but it is the only Hemitrygon known to occur outside the western Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans. Hemitrygon yemenensis sp. nov. most closely resembles H. bennetti, but H. yemenensis is separable based on several characters including a longer and more narrowly pointed snout, shorter tail, and a longer disc and head. Hemitrygon yemenensis is unknown to science beyond the two type specimens collected nearly 120 years ago.

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