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| Neotrygon indica Pavan-Kumar, Kumar & Borsa, 2017 |
Abstract
The blue-spotted maskray, previously N. kuhlii, consists of up to eleven lineages representing separate species. Nine of these species (N. australiae, N. bobwardi, N. caeruleopunctata, N. malaccensis, N. moluccensis, N. orientale, N. vali, N. varidens, N. westpapuensis) have already been formally described. Here the Indian-Ocean maskray is described as a new species, Neotrygon indica sp. nov. A diagnosis based on its distinct colour patterns and nucleotide sequence at the CO1 locus is proposed.
Keywords: Taxonomy; Diagnosis; Distribution
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| Fig. 1. Female blue-spotted maskray specimen, 174 mm disk length, from the Gulf of Mannar, Tamil Nadu, India (9.12°N 79.46°E) registered under no. ZSI/MBRC/F.1495 at the Marine Biology Regional Centre in Chennai, India and designated as holotype of Neotrygon indica sp. nov. (photograph by Rajan Kumar). |
Etymology. Named for the country of type locality, India. Epithet indica is the latin feminine adjectival form of the name of the country.
Proposed vernacular names. Indian-Ocean Blue-spotted Maskray (English); Neeli Nishan Pakat (Hindi); Pulli Thirukhai (Tamil); Raie pastenague masquée à points bleus de l’océan Indien (French)
Annam Pavan-Kumar, Rajan Kumar and Philippe Borsa. 2017. Neotrygon indica sp. nov., the Indian-Ocean Blue-spotted Maskray (Myliobatoidei, Dasyatidae). bioRxiv. DOI: 10.1101/179911
