Revised 31 Jan. 2024
PDF version (with illustrations and additional information)

Whiptail Stingrays
Subfamily STYRACURINAE Carvalho, Loboda & da Silva 2016

Styracura Carvalho, Loboda & Silva 2016 stýrax (Gr. στύραξ), spike at the lower end of a spear-shaft; ourá (Gr. οὐρά), tail, referring to its greatly elongated caudal stingers

Styracura pacifica (Beebe & Tee-Van 1941) –ica (L.), belonging to: Pacific Ocean, referring to its distribution off the Pacific coast from Oaxaca, Mexico, to Costa Rica and around the Galapagos Islands

Styracura schmardae (Werner 1904) in honor of Austrian naturalist and traveler Ludwig K. Schmarda (1819–1908), who collected holotype [although named after a man, “ae” is, per Latin grammar, a nomenclaturally acceptable way to form a genitive from nouns that end in “a”]

---

River Stingrays
Subfamily POTAMOTRYGONINAE Garman 1877

Heliotrygon Carvalho & Lovejoy 2011 hḗlios (Gr. ἥλιος), sun, referring to distinctively arranged pectoral disc radials that appear to “radiate” outward; trygṓn (Gr. τρυγών), stingray, originating from ptérýx (Gr. πτέρυξ), wing, referring to the wing-like resemblance (and flying-like movement) of their pectoral fins

Heliotrygon gomesi Carvalho & Lovejoy 2011 in honor of Ulisses L. Gomes (b. 1955), a “pioneer in the study of elasmobranch morphology and systematics in Brazil, and an esteemed colleague and collaborator of the first author”

Heliotrygon rosai Carvalho & Lovejoy 2011 in honor of Ricardo S. Rosa (b. 1954), whose “excellent” 1985 revision of potamotrygonids “represents a landmark in our understanding of the taxonomy and diversity of this family”

Paratrygon Duméril 1865 pará (Gr. παρά), near, referring to what was presumed to be a close relationship to the catch-all stingray genus Trygon (=Dasyatis)

Paratrygon aiereba (Müller & Henle 1841) presumably a Brazilian vernacular for an unidentified species of ray; its original pre-Linnaean usage likely referred to a marine species, which the authors applied to this freshwater species

Paratrygon orinocensis Loboda, Lasso, Rosa & Carvalho 2021 -ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: main rivers of the Orinoco basin, Colombia and Venezuela, where it is endemic

Paratrygon parvaspina Loboda, Lasso, Rosa & Carvalho 2021 parvus (L.), small; spina (L.), thorn or spine, referring to its reduced caudal stinger (or spine)

Plesiotrygon Rosa, Castello & Thorson 1987 plḗsios (Gr. πλήσιος), near, root word of plesiomorph, i.e., a primitive character state; trygṓn (Gr. τρυγών), stingray, originating from ptérýx (Gr. πτέρυξ), wing, referring to the wing-like resemblance (and flying-like movement) of their pectoral fins, i.e., “close to trygon,” referring to its possible phylogenetic position as the most primitive potamotrygonid stingray

Plesiotrygon iwamae Rosa, Castello & Thorson 1987 in honor of the late zoologist Satoko Iwama (d. 1987), Instituto de Botânica, São Paulo, Brazil

Plesiotrygon nana Carvalho & Ragno 2011 from nanus (L.), dwarf (a noun, but apparently treated as an adjective), referring to small adult size, probably not surpassing 250 mm disc width

Potamotrygon Garman 1877 potamós (Gr. ποταμός), river, referring to their occurrence in the rivers of South America; trygṓn (Gr. τρυγών), stingray, originating from ptérýx (Gr. πτέρυξ), wing, referring to the wing-like resemblance (and flying-like movement) of their pectoral fins

Potamotrygon adamastor Fontenelle & Carvalho 2017 named after Adamastor, a giant in Greek mythology who opposed Zeus and Thetis and was thereby sent to Earth, acting as a raging storm over the Cape of Storms; the name was chosen because this stingray is a strong and violent fish, with a stinger that can pierce plastic boxes when caught (J. P. Fontenelle, pers. comm.)

Potamotrygon albimaculata Carvalho 2016 albus (L.) white; maculata (L.), spotted, referring to conspicuous white-spotted color pattern

Potamotrygon amandae Loboda & Carvalho 2013 in memory of Amanda Lucas Gimeno (1984–2006), who was an undergraduate colleague of the senior author (she died from severe head trauma when a balcony collapsed at the State University of Londrina during the first day of the 26th Brazilian Congress of Zoology)

Potamotrygon amazona Fontenelle & Carvalho 2017 named after the Amazonas, female warriors of Greek mythology, daughters of the god of war and goddess of harmony; this name was chosen because this stingray is strong, muscular, and covered with armor-like denticles (J. P. Fontenelle, pers. comm.)

Potamotrygon boesemani Rosa, Carvalho & Almeida Wanderley 2008 in honor of the late Marinus Boeseman (1916–2006), Leiden University, “who contributed substantially to our knowledge of both South American ichthyology (including chondrichthyans) and zoological history”

Potamotrygon brachyura (Günther 1880) short-tailed, from brachýs (Gr. βραχύς), short, and ourá (Gr. οὐρά), tail, referring to its tail much shorter than its body

Potamotrygon constellata (Vaillant 1880) Latin for studded with stars, referring to stellate-based spines on tail, which appear white on the ray’s dark skin and thus resemble a “carte sidérale” (sidereal map, or map of stars)

Potamotrygon falkneri Castex & Maciel 1963 in honor of British Jesuit missionary Tomas Falkner (1707–1784, also spelled Thomas Falconer), for his apostolic and scientific work in 18th-century Argentina

Potamotrygon garmani Fontenelle & Carvalho 2017 in honor of American ichthyologist-herpetologist Samuel Garman (1843–1927), Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, whose works on sharks and rays “remain among the most impressive and important contributions to the field”; he proposed the genus Potamotrygon, the family Potamotrygonidae, and described five species of Neotropical stingrays (three remain valid)

Potamotrygon henlei (Castelnau 1855) patronym not identified but clearly in honor of Friedrich Gustav Jacob Henle (1807–1885), German physician, pathologist and anatomist, who, along with Johann Müller (honored by Castelnau in a preceding description in the same publication, now a junior synonym of P. motoro) produced the first authoritative work on elasmobranch fishes (1839–1841) and published the first valid description of P. motoro in 1841

Potamotrygon histrix (Müller & Henle 1834) alternate spelling of hystrix, Greek and Latin for porcupine, referring to stellate-based spines on dorsal surface, larger toward the middle and absent from the margins [often spelled hystrix, dating to Müller & Henle 1841]

Potamotrygon humerosa Garman 1913 –osa, Latin suffix connoting fullness or abundance: humerus (L.), shoulder or bone of the upper arm, allusion not explained nor evident

Potamotrygon jabuti Carvalho 2016 Portuguese name for this species, from the Portuguese name for common land-dwelling tortoises (Testudinidae) of Brazil, referring to similarity in dorsal color, especially when disc is arched

Potamotrygon leopoldi Castex & Castello 1970 in honor of Leopold III (1901–1983), King of the Belgians (1934–1951), sponsor of scientific studies at the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique

Potamotrygon limai Fontanelle, Silva & Carvalho 2014 in honor of “highly esteemed” ichthyologist José Lima de Figueiredo (b. 1943), Universidade de São Paulo, known as Zé Lima, who has contributed “immensely” to the development of ichthyology in South America and a “valued mentor and friend” of the authors

Potamotrygon magdalenae (Duméril 1865) of Rio de la Magdalena, Colombia, type locality
Potamotrygon marinae Deynat 2006 in honor of Deynat’s daughter Marina

Potamotrygon marquesi Silva & Loboda 2019 in honor of Fernando Portella de Luna Marques, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, who has contributed “immensely” to systematic studies of freshwater stingrays in South America, especially their parasites; he increased the number of potamotrygonins deposited at the university and “gave an improved and new perspective to the Department of Zoology during his time as a member of the post-graduate committee”

Potamotrygon motoro (Müller & Henle 1841) local name for this ray in Cuyaba, Brazil (type locality)

Potamotrygon ocellata (Engelhardt 1912) Latin for having little eyes, referring to numerous red spots with black rings on dorsal surface

Potamotrygon orbignyi (Castelnau 1855) in honor of Alcide d’Orbigny (1802–1857), “learned and intrepid traveler” (translation) and naturalist who traveled in South America, collecting thousands of specimens for the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris)

Potamotrygon pantanensis Loboda & Carvalho 2013 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: northern Pantanal region (Paraná-Paraguay basin), only known area of occurrence

Potamotrygon rex Carvalho 2016 Latin for king, referring to its large, bulky size and striking color pattern, “king of the rio Tocantins Potamotrygon species”

Potamotrygon schroederi Fernández-Yépez 1958 in honor of American ichthyologist William C. Schroeder (1895–1977), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Falmouth, Massachusetts, USA), for his contributions to the knowledge of rays

Potamotrygon schuhmacheri Castex 1964 in honor of Castex’ former high-school student and collaborator Roberto Schümacher (1947–1964), who died in an accident

Potamotrygon scobina Garman 1913 Latin for rasp, referring to “very small fine closely set stellate-based spines intermixed with larger” spines on disc and upper surface of tail

Potamotrygon signata Garman 1913 Latin for marked, referring to light and dark spots on dorsal surface and outer edge of disc

Potamotrygon tatianae Silva & Carvalho 2011 in honor of Tatiana Raso de Moraes Possato (1978–2006), “a late student of biology” at Universidade de São Paulo, and an “enthusiastic researcher of chondrichthyans, in particular potamotrygonids”

Potamotrygon tigrina Carvalho, Sabaj Perez & Lovejoy 2011 Latin for tiger-like, referring to conspicuous dorsal disc color and vertically striped color pattern on distal tail region

Potamotrygon wallacei Carvalho, Rosa & Araújo 2016 in honor of Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), the first naturalist to collect, observe and illustrate this species while on his travels in the Rio Negro in the early 1850sPotamotrygon yepezi Castex & Castello 1970 in honor of Agustín Fernández Yépez (1916–1977), for his contributions to Venezuelan ichthyology