Ginglymostomatidae, T.N.Gill, 1862

Elasmobranch, Its Implications For Global, Parasitology, Diversity And, Naylor, G. J. P., Sc, Caira, J. N., Ct, Jensen, K., Ks, Rosana, K. A. M., Fl, White, W. T., Csiro, Tas, Last, P. R., Csiro & Tas, 2012, A Dna Sequence-Based Approach To The Identification Of Shark And Ray Species And Its Implications For Global Elasmobranch Diversity And Parasitology, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2012 (367), pp. 1-262 : 54

Ginglymostomatidae (nurse sharks)

Pseudoginglymostoma brevicaudatum (shorttail nurse

shark) ( fig. 37)

The three specimens of this eastern Africa endemic species included here all came from Kenya. They were identical in sequence. This species clustered most closely with Rhincodon typus , but a model-based formal phylogenetic analysis is required to resolve their relationships more definitively. The average of the pairwise differences among specimens of these two species was 148.

Ginglymostoma cirratum (nurse shark) complex

( fig. 37)

The 12 specimens originally identified as this species included in the analysis were collected from the Gulf of Mexico, the western Atlantic off the coasts of Florida and Virginia, and the Gulf of California. The analysis yielded two distinct clusters: one consisting of the Atlantic specimens and one consisting of the three specimens from the Gulf of California. The nine specimens in the Atlantic cluster exhibited a range in pairwise differences of 0–2, with an average of 1. The cluster comprised of the specimens from the Gulf of California had a range of pairwise differences of 0–1. However, the average of the pairwise differences between the members of these two clusters was 15.9. This finding lends some support to the suggestion that the nurse sharks occurring off of Baja may not be conspecific with those occurring along the eastern seaboard of North America. One of the specimens from the Gulf of California was vouchered (GN3561 5 TCWC 7585.01 5 IBUNAM PE9492). Given that the type locality of G. cirratum is Jamaica, we have referred to specimens in the Atlantic cluster as G. cirratum and to those in the Gulf of California cluster as Ginglymostoma cf. cirratum . Both the haplotype map for phenotype ( fig. 93A), which shows no haplotype overlap among specimens of the two taxa, and that for geography ( fig. 93B) support the distinction between these two allopatric species.

Nebrius ferrugineus (tawny nurse shark) ( fig. 37)

Both specimens of this species included in the analysis were collected from northern Australia, and thus are not fully representative of the Indo-West to central Pacific distribution of this species. These specimens differed from one another by three base pairs.