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
Urogymnus granulatus
(Macleay)
(
Figs. 2H
,
10
D–H)
The left portion of the disc of a specimen (SL-13) found in a fish market in Puttalam in the North Western Province was preliminarily identifiable as
Urogymnus granulatus
based on the coloration of the dorsal surface of the disc which was yellowish brown with small white spots; it also had several irregular rows of enlarged, thorn-like denticles more or less restricted to the midline of the body. While this denticle pattern is inconsistent with that described for this species by
Last
et al.
(2016a
,
b
), it is consistent with that reported in the redescription of
U. granulatus
by
Ishihara
et al.
(1993)
. This identification was supported by our molecular analysis in which this specimen was found to differ from our reference specimen of
U. granulatus
(CM03-74;
JQ518808
) from
Australia
by only a single bp. Our molecular work also confirmed the identity of a specimen, which has been deposited in the BRT Ichthyology Collection (SL-116; BRT-I 0030), collected from the Valaichchenai Fisheries Harbor in the Eastern Province earlier in the year, as
U. granulatus
. This immature specimen was identical to the reference specimen from
Australia
and differed from SL-13 by 1 bp.
FIGURE 10.
Pateobatis jenkinsii
(
A–C
) and
Urogymnus granulatus
(
D–H
) (
Dasyatidae
).
A.
Dorsal surface of mature female (SL-98).
B.
Wedge-shaped thorns and denticles on base of tail of mature female (SL-43).
C.
Dorsal surface of immature male (SL-101; BRT-I 0028).
D.
Dorsal surface of portion of disc of large specimen (partial; SL-13).
E.
Thorns and denticles on base of tail of mature specimen (SL-13).
F.
Ventral surface of portion of disc of large specimen (partial; SL-13).
G.
Dorsal surface of immature female (SL-116; BRT-I 0030).
H.
Scapular denticles of immature female (SL-116; BRT-I 0030).
This is the first report of
U. granulatus
from
Sri Lanka
. This may be the species referred to previously in
Sri Lanka
as
Urogymnus africanus
(Bloch & Schneider)
by
De Silva (1978)
or possibly as
Urogymnus asperrimus
(Bloch & Schneider)
(see
De Bruin
et al.
1995
;
Morón
et al.
1998
;
De Silva 2006
).
Last
et al
. (2016b)
suggested that both
U. granulatus
and
U. asperrimus
co-occur in
Sri Lanka
, and a specimen consistent with
U. asperrimus
collected since our survey confirms this. However, whether the form of this species in
Sri Lanka
is
Urogymnus asperrimus
1 or
Urogymnus asperrimus
2 (sensu
Naylor
et al.
2012a
) remains to be determined.