Pastinachus Rüppell, 1829

Last, Peter R., Manjaji, B. Mabel & Yearsley, Gordon K., 2005, Pastinachus solocirostris sp. nov., a new species of Stingray (Elasmobranchii: Myliobatiformes) from the Indo – Malay Archipelago, Zootaxa 1040, pp. 1-16 : 2-3

Genus Pastinachus Rüppell, 1829

Pastinachus (subgenus of Trigon ) Rüppell, 1829:51. Type Raja sephen Forsskål 1775 , by subsequent designation.

Hypolophus Müller and Henle, 1837:117 . Type Raja sephen Forsskål 1775 , by subsequent designation.

Definition. Dasyatid rays with the following combination of characters: robust, strongly rhomboidal disc; moderately elongate, broad­based tail; ventral cutaneous fold well developed, slender to very deep, length interspecifcally variable, its base 80–130% of disc width; dorsal cutaneous fold absent; dorsal surface uniform greyish, greyish brown or black, lacking a structured colour pattern; 1–3 enlarged thorns in nuchal area, no enlarged thorns anywhere else on disc or tail; broad, well­developed denticle band on mid­disc, developing before or soon after birth; denticles in band dense, typically broad based, stellate or irregular, with flat crowns; claspers pointed distally; internasal flap elongate, lobe­like distally; jaws strongly asymmetric, with symphysial and medial arches in the upper jaw and a subtriangular, plate­like lower jaw.

Remarks. A good summary of the nomenclature is provided by Eschmeyer’s (2005) Online Catalog of Fishes (http://www.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/ fishcatsearch.html, as at 10 July 2005).