Insights into the Urogymnid whiprays (Chondrichthyes: Batoidea) in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, with an amendment of their diagnostic characteristics and dispersal range
Author
Golzarianpour, Kiavash
0000-0003-3874-0947
School of Biology and Center of Excellence in Phylogeny of living organisms, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran & kiavash. pro @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 3874 - 0947
kiavash.pro@gmail.com
Author
Malek, Masoumeh
School of Biology and Center of Excellence in Phylogeny of living organisms, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran
Author
Golestaninasab, Mehdi
Author
Sarafrazi, Alimorad
Insect Taxonomy Research Department, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Tehran, Iran
Author
Kochmann, Judith
0000-0001-6312-7859
Institute of Ecology, Diversity and Evolution, Goethe University, Frankfurt / M., Germany & Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre; Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung; Frankfurt / M., Germany & judith. kochmann @ senckenberg. de; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 6312 - 7859
judith.kochmann@senckenberg.de
Author
Klimpel, Sven
0000-0002-9191-3256
Institute of Ecology, Diversity and Evolution, Goethe University, Frankfurt / M., Germany & Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre; Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung; Frankfurt / M., Germany & Klimpel @ bio. uni-frankfurt. de; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 9191 - 3256
limpel@bio.uni-frankfurt.de
text
Zootaxa
2020
2020-07-23
4819
2
316
334
journal article
8911
10.11646/zootaxa.4819.2.5
2794c243-ce13-420b-8622-73af7ac074fa
1175-5326
4396954
CAF1F341-83D8-4F93-97CF-FAFCD99752AF
Himantura leoparda
or
Himantura uarnak
?
Both species,
H. leopard
and
H. uarnak
, have an extended dispersal range within the Indo-west Pacific (
Last
et al.
2016b
), which indicates an overlap of their habitat. Although
Almoji
et al.
(2015)
noted that there is a species complex, they reported
H. uarnak
as the only valid species in the Persian Gulf and misidentified the photo of
H. leoparda
as
H. uarnak
. Recently,
Jabado
et al.
(2018)
recorded well-documented data on the presence of both species in
UAE
waters. Their conservative frequency estimation counted more individuals of
H. uarnak
than
H. leoparda
. Despite higher frequency of
H. uarnak
, we never succeeded in capturing this species from northern waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of
Oman
.
Henderson
et al.
(2016)
and
Last
et al.
(2016a)
sequenced several specimens of
H. leoparda
from
Oman
,
Bahrain
, and
Iran
. Unfortunately, these sequence data have not been deposited in Gen-Bank, which prevented us from doing a precise comparison. Moreover, the specimens sequenced here are closely grouped with
H. leoparda
(GN4575) from
Indonesia
with an average p-distance of 1.85 ±0.1%.
Henderson
et al.
(2016)
considered this amount of difference as an intraspecific variation.