New insights into the identities of the elasmobranch fauna of Sri Lanka Author Fernando, Daniel Author Bown, Rosalind M. K. Author Tanna, Akshay Author Gobiraj, Ramajeyam Author Ralicki, Hannah Author Jockusch, Elizabeth L. Author Ebert, David A. Author Jensen, Kirsten Author Caira, Janine N. text Zootaxa 2019 2019-04-12 4585 2 201 238 journal article 27326 10.11646/zootaxa.4585.2.1 86f58653-808d-45ee-bba8-2706327e1afd 1175-5326 2637236 8519C595-0A62-4710-8D38-B200951D7B19 Aetobatus ocellatus (Kuhl) ( Figs. 2A , 6A, B ) The eight specimens of Aetobatus Blainville from Sri Lanka were collected from landing sites in Palkanththura (SL-2) and Pukulam (SL-7) in the North Western Province and from fish markets in Kottadi (SL-26, SL-27, SL- 62), Munai (SL-41), and Vankalai (SL-68, SL-69) in the Northern Province . All eight specimens exhibited the general color pattern that distinguishes Aetobatus ocellatus from its four described congeners in that the dorsal disc surface bears small white, round spots that do not extend onto the head. Some variation was seen across specimens —in the cases of SL-41, SL-62, and SL-69; the white spots were essentially restricted to the posterior margins of the disc and the pelvic fins. The tree resulting from Neighbor-Joining analysis of NADH2 data, which included representation of all four described species and the potentially undescribed species referred to as Aetobatus cf. ocellatus 1 and Aetobatus cf. ocellatus 2 by Naylor et al. (2012a) , generally supports this identification in that all eight specimens clustered most closely with our reference specimen of A. ocellatus from Malaysian Borneo (BO- 296; JQ519092 ). However, within that cluster, two subclusters were apparent. Specimens SL-26 and SL-41 were identical in sequence, differing from the reference specimen of A. ocellatus by 6 bp. The six specimens in the second subcluster (SL-2, SL-7, SL-27, SL-62, SL-68, and SL-69), which differed from one another by 0–1 bp, differed from those in the first subcluster by 8–13 bp. However, these subclusters did not correspond to the color pattern differences seen. Investigation of additional specimens of Aetobatus from Sri Lanka is recommended and a comprehensive review of the white-spotted eagle rays in the Indo-West Pacific is sorely needed. This species has been referred to as Aetobatus narinari (Euphrasen) in all prior reports from Sri Lanka (see De Silva 1978 , 2006 , 2015 ; De Bruin et al. 1995 ; Morn et al. 1998). However this name is now reserved for the Atlantic member of this genus (see White et al. 2010 ).