50 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



5 b. Rostral cartilage extending only a short distance beyond front of cranium 

 and less than halfway to tip of snout. 



Platyrhina"^^ Miiller and Henle 1841. 

 China and Japan. 



Genus Rhinobatos Link 1790 



Guitarfishes 



Rhinobatos Link, Mag. Physik Naturg., Gotha, 6 (3), 1790: 32; diagnosis, but no species mentioned; evidently 

 for Raja rhinobatos Linnaeus 1758, which is generally accepted as the type species. 



Generic Synonyms:-- 



Rhinobatus Bloch and Schneider, Svst. Ichthyol., 1801: 353, and many subsequent authors; equivalent to 



Rhinobatos Link.^* 

 Leiobatus Rafinesque, Caratt. Gen. Spec. Sicil., 1810: 16; type species, L. fanduratus Rafinesque, Sicily; ap- 

 parently equals Squalus rhinobatos Linnaeus 1758.-* 

 Rhinobates Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fish. Amphib. Rept., 2, 1839: 193; equivalent to Rhinobatos Link 1790 and 



Rhinobatus Bloch and Schneider 1801. 

 Squatinoraja Nardo, Oss. Agg. Adr. Ittiol., 1824;^^ type species, S. colonna Nardo, designated by Jordan (Genera 



Fish., J, 1917: 116), equals Rhinobatus columnae Bonaparte 1835— 1836. 

 Syrrhina (subgenus oi Rhinobatus) Miiller and Henle, Plagiost., 1841: 113, in part. For discussion, see p. 48, 



footnote 17. 

 Glaucostegus Bonaparte, Cat. Pesc. Europ., 1846: 14; type species, Rhinobatus cemiculus GeofFroy St.-Hilaire 



1827; perhaps equals Raja rhinobatos Linnaeus 1758.^^ 

 Squatiniraja L. Agassiz, Nom. Zool., Inde.x, 1846: 350; emended spelling for Squatinoraja Nardo 1824. 

 Acroteriobatis (subgenus) Giltay, Ann. Soc. zool. Belg., ^g, 1928: 26; type species, Rhinobatus {Syrrhina) annu- 



latus Miiller and Henle 1841, designated by Whitley (Aust. Zool, 9, 1939: 244). 

 Scobatus (subgenus) Whitley, Aust. Zool., 9, 1939: 244; type species, Rhinobatus granulatus Blainville i8r6, 



designated by Whitley. 



21. The name Discobatus was proposed by Garman (Proc. U. S. nat. Mus., J, 1881: 523) to replace Platyrhina, pre- 

 occupied by Platyrhinus Schellenberg 1798, for Coleoptera; and another substitute name, Analithis, had been pro- 

 posed earlier by Gistel (Naturg. Tier., 1848: x). But this substitution is not required by the rules of Zoological 

 Nomenclature as generally accepted at present. Two species are known, Platyrhina sinensis (Bloch and Schneider) 

 1801 and P . limbomhenyi Tang 1933 (Lingnan Sci., J., 12^ 1933: 561, pi- 42, figs, i, 2). For excellent illustra- 

 tions o{ P. sinensis, including skeletal characters, see Garman (Mem. Harv. Mus. comp. Zool., j6, 1913: pi- 66). 



22. The fossil genera Jellopos Miinster 1836 (Neues Jb. Miner., 1836: 581), Euryarthra L. Agassiz 1843 (Poiss. Foss., 

 J, 1843: 382) and Spathobatis ThioUi^re 1849 (Ann. Soc. Agric. Lyon, [2] i, 1849: 63) are included among the 

 synonyms of Rhinobatos by Fowler (Bull. U.S. nat. Mus., 100 [xj], 1941: 305)- 



23. The generic name Rhinobatus had been employed previously by Klein (Neuer Schauplatz, 2, 1776: 592) and by 

 Walbaum (P. Artedi Genera Pise. Emend. Ichthyol., 3, 1792: 58 1). But the International Commission on Zoological 

 Nomenclature has ruled (Opin. 21, Smithson. Publ., No. 1938, 1910: 51; Opin. 89, Smithson. misc. Coll., yj [3], 

 1925: 27) that neither Klein's names nor their revival by Walbaum (1792) are to be taken into consideration. 



24. Leiobatus had been proposed earlier by Klein (Neuer Schauplatz, i, 1775: 316) and republished by Walbaum 

 (P. Artedi Genera Pise. Emend. Ichthyol., 2, 1792: 581), its type being designated as Raja oxyrincha Linnaeus 

 1758 by Jordan (Genera Fish., i, 1917: 38). 



25. Squatinoraja is credited to Nardo, as above, by L. Agassiz (Nom. Zool. Pise, 1845: 61), by Schultze, Kiikenthal, 

 Heider, and Hesse (Nom. Anima. Gen. Subgen., 5 Lief. 23, 1937: 3260), and by Neave (Nom. Zool., 4, 1940: 

 271). We have not been able to verify the citation. 



26. While R. cemiculus St.-Hilaire (in Savigny, Zool. Egypte, i [i], 1817: 338, pi. 27, fig. 3) is retained as a distinct 

 species by Norman (Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., 1926: 953) and by Rey (Fauna Iberica, Peces, i, 1928: 513, pi. 8, 

 figs. 3, 4), it is referred to the synonymy of R. rhinobatos (Linnaeus) 1758 by Fowler (Bull. U. S. nat. Mus., 100 

 [jj], 1941: 305). 



