Pastinachus Explained

Pastinachus is a genus of stingrays in the family Dasyatidae. This genus was long held to be monotypic, containing only the cowtail stingray (P. sephen). Recent studies of Indo-Pacific stingrays have revealed that there are in fact a number of different species of Pastinachus, and that some former junior synonyms may need to be resurrected.^[1]

Species

• Pastinachus ater (W. J. Macleay, 1883) (Broad cowtail stingray)
• Pastinachus gracilicaudus Last & Manjaji-Matsumoto, 2010 (Narrow cowtail stingray)
• Pastinachus sephen (Forsskål, 1775) (Cowtail stingray)
• Pastinachus solocirostris Last, Manjaji & Yearsley, 2005 (Roughnose cowtail stingray)
• Pastinachus stellurostris Last, Fahmi & Naylor, 2010 (Starrynose cowtail stingray)

Phylogeny

Combining the molecular genetic relationship analysis of the NADH2 DNA, which was used to assign Pastinachus stellurostris,^[2] and the analysis of the COI gene, which was used to evaluate P. gracilicaudus accordingly,^[3] results in approximately the following cladogram for the genus:

Notes and References

1. Pastinachus solocirostris sp. nov., a new species of Stingray (Elasmobranchii: Myliobatiformes) from the Indo–Malay Archipelago . Last, P.R. . Manjaji, B.M. . Yearsley, G.K. . amp . Zootaxa . 1040 . 1–16 . 2005. 10.11646/zootaxa.1040.1.1 .
2. Peter R. Last, Fahmi, Gavin J. P Naylor: Pastinachus stellurostris sp. nov., a new stingray (Elasmobranchii, Myliobatiformes) from Indonesian Borneo. In: P. R. Last, W. T. White, J. J. Pogonoski (Hrsg.): Descriptions of new sharks and rays from Borneo. CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Paper no. 32; S. 129–140, 2010
3. Peter R. Last, B. Mabel Manjaji-Matsumoto: Description of a new stingray, Pastinachus gracilicaudus sp. nov. (Elasmobranchii, Myliobatiformes), based on material from the Indo-Malay Archipelago. In: P. R. Last, W. T. White, J. J. Pogonoski (Hrsg.): Descriptions of new sharks and rays from Borneo. CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Paper no. 32; S. 115–128, 2010