Fishes of the IVestern North Atlantic 435 



I b. Normally seven series of teeth in each jaw. 



2 a. Rostral portion of pectorals (subrostral fin) connected with main portions of 

 fins by a continuous series of radial cartilages extending along sides of head. 



Myliobatis Cuvier 18 17, p. 435. 

 2 b. Rostral portion of pectorals (subrostral fin) entirely separated from main por- 

 tions of fins along sides of head. 



3 a. Tail armed with a serrate spine (or spines). Pleromy/aeus Garmnn 191 3. 



Tropical to warm temperate eastern 

 Atlantic, including Mediterranean; 

 South Africa; Melanesia, Queens- 

 land and New South Wales. 

 3 b. Tail not armed with a serrate spine. 



Aetomyleus Garman 1908. 

 Western Pacific from southeastern Australia (near 

 Melbourne) to Japan, including Cochin-China 

 and the China Sea; Philippines; East Indies; 

 Malay Peninsula; coasts of Burma and India; 

 Ceylon; Red Sea. 



Genus Myliobatis Cuvier 1 8 1 7 



Myliobatis Cuvier, Regne Anim., 2, 1817: 137; type species, Raja aquila Linnaeus (Syst. Nat., I, 1758: 232), 

 designated by Jordan and Gilbert (Bull. U.S. nat. Mus., 16, 1883: 50). 



Generic Synonyms: 



Myliobates Cuvier, Thierreich (German transl. by Schinz), 2 (19), 1822: 234; emended spelling for Mylio- 

 batis Cuvier 18 17. 

 Aetobatis Blainville, in Vieillot, Faune Frang., 1825: 38; type and only included species, Raja aquila Linnaeus 



1758- 



Pastinaca (in part) Gray, Cat. Fish. Coll. and Descr. by L. T. Gronow in Brit. Mus., 1854: 12; includes Raja 

 aquila Linnaeus 1758. 



Holorhinus Gill, Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 1862: 331; type and only included species, Rhinoptera vespertilio 

 Girard (Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 8, 1856: 137; Boston J. nat. Hist., 6, 1857: 544, pi. 26); Cali- 

 fornia. Not Myliobatis vespertilio Bleeker (Verh. batavia Genoot., 24, 1852: Plagiost., 8;), Dutch East- 

 Indies, which falls in the genus Aetomyleus Garman 1908, as here defined (p. 435). 



Miliobatis Salvadori, Boll. Mus. Zool. Anat. comp. Torino, J, 1888: 23; equals Myliobatis Cuvier 18 17. 



Aetobatus (in part) McCuUoch, Biol. Result. F. I. S. Endeavour, j, 191 1: 15; including Myliobatis australis 

 MacLeay (Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W., 6, 1881: 380), Australia; Beebe and Tee-Van (Zoologica N.Y., 

 26, 1941: 271); also including Myliobatis californicus Gill 1865 and M. peruvianus Garman 1913. 



Leiobatus Lahille, Physis B.Aires, 5, 1921: 63; including Raja aquila Linnaeus 1758. 



Not Leiobatus Rafinesque, Carratt. Gen. Spec. Sicil., 1810: 16; equals Rhinobatos Link 1790, which see, p. 50. 



Not Aetobatus Blainville, Bull. Soc. philom. Paris, 1816: 112, which see, p. 451. 



Not Myliobatis, G. St.-Hilaire, 1817, 1827; see p. 434, footnote 4. 



Generic Characters. Disc lozenge-shaped, broader than long. Tail much longer than 

 body, with one or more serrate spear-tipped spines close behind dorsal fin; tail spine 

 similar in structure to those of the Dasyatidae (p. 335) and probably similarly venom- 

 ous.' Dorsal fin originating opposite tips of pelvics or posterior to them. Free posterior 



7. See Halstead and Modglin (Copeia, 1950: 165-175) for detailed account of the anatomy of the tail spines of the 

 Californian Myliobatis californicus. 



