Revised 18 Oct. 2023
PDF version (illustrated)

Gymnura van Hasselt 1823 gymnós (Gr. γυμνός), bare or naked; ourá (Gr. οὐρά), tail, allusion not explained, possibly referring to lack of dorsal fin and serrated spines on tail of G. micrura

Gymnura altavela (Linnaeus 1758) Italian vernacular for this ray (alta, high; vela, sail) as reported by Willughby (1686, De historia piscium), allusion not explained, perhaps referring to broad sail-like body formed by fused pectoral fins

Gymnura australis (Ramsay & Ogilby 1886) Latin for southern, described as an Australian form of G. altavela

Gymnura crebripunctata (Peters 1869) creber (L.), thick, numerous or pressed together; punctata (L.), spotted, referring to closely arranged black dots on dorsal surface and small yellow spots on front edge of disc

Gymnura hirundo (Lowe 1843) Latin for swallow, referring to bird-like wingspan formed by its fused pectoral fins

Gymnura japonica (Temminck & Schlegel 1850) –ica (L.), belonging to: Japan (described from Nagasaki Bay)

Gymnura lessae Yokota & Carvalho 2017 in honor of Rosângela Lessa, a “valued mentor and friend” of the first author, and a “highly esteemed Brazilian researcher who has been struggling valiantly for the conservation of sharks and rays in Brazil, and has contributed significantly to the knowledge of this group”

Gymnura marmorata (Cooper 1864) Latin for marbled, referring to finely mottled color pattern, with darker mottles forming reticulations around pale roundish spots

Gymnura micrura (Bloch & Schneider 1801) small-tailed, from mikrós (Gr.), small, and ourá (Gr. οὐρά), tail, referring to its slender, short tail (about ¼ disc width)

Gymnura natalensis (Gilchrist & Thompson 1911) –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Cape Natal, South Africa, type locality

Gymnura poecilura (Shaw 1804) poecilio-, from poikílos (Gr. ποικίλος), varicolored; ourá (Gr. οὐρά), tail (treated as an adjective, tailed), referring to black and white circles or rings on tail

Gymnura sereti Yokota & Carvalho 2017 in honor of French ichthyologist Bernard Séret (b. 1949), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN, Paris), for his “important contributions” to the systematics of elasmobranchs and to our knowledge of West African fishes; he has “contributed substantially to the collections of the MNHN, including thousands of specimens from West Africa”

Gymnura tentaculata (Valenciennes 1841) –atus (L.), provided with: tentacule (L.), feeler, i.e., small tentacle, referring to a tentacle behind each spiracle (authorship often attributed to Müller & Henle, who published Valenciennes’ description)

Gymnura zonurus (Bleeker 1852) zona (L.), belt or girdle; urus, Latinized from ourá (Gr. οὐρά), tail, referring to 8–10 white rings on tail behind dorsal (often incorrectly treated as an adjective, zonura)