A revised classification of the family Dasyatidae (Chondrichthyes: Myliobatiformes) based on new morphological and molecular insights Author Last, Peter R. Author Naylor, Gavin J. P. Author Manjaji-Matsumoto, B. Mabel text Zootaxa 2016 4139 3 345 368 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.4139.3.2 51358935-98b0-4d89-a47f-e4341171e5b9 1175-5326 262765 DCF4220B-4A73-407C-837C-54DEAE29F435 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).