Introduction

The family Plesiobatidae comprises a single genus and species, Plesiobatis daviesi, found in the waters of the Indo-west-central Pacific, including Australia. Plesiobatis daviesi was previously included in the Urolophidae, but Nishida (1990) placed the species in its own family. This placement was recognised by Compagno & Last (1999), but not by Last & Stevens (1994) who retained P. daviesi in the Urolophidae, but subsequently recognised the family Plesiobatidae (Last & Stevens 2009; Séret & Last 2016, Nelson et al. 2016).

The deepwater stingray is found on the continental slope and reaches a maximum length of 2.7 m.

General References

Compagno, L.J.V. & Last, P.R. 1999. Family Plesiobatidae. pp. 1467-1468 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 3 pp. 1397-2068.

Last, P.R. & Stevens, J.D. 1994. Sharks and Rays of Australia. Canberra : CSIRO Australia 513 pp. 84 pls.

Last, P.R. & Stevens, J.D. 2009. Sharks and Rays of Australia. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing Australia 2, 550 pp.

Nelson, J.S., Grande, T.C. & Wilson, M.V.H. 2016. Fishes of the World. Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons 5, 752 pp.

Nishida, K. 1990. Phylogeny of the suborder Myliobatidoidei. Memoirs of the Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University 37(1-2): 1-108

Séret, B. & Last, P.R. 2016. Giant Stingarees. Family Plesiobatidae. pp. 674-675 in Last, P.R., White, W.T., Carvalho, M.R. de, Séret, B., Stehmann, M.F.W. & Naylor, G.J.P. (eds.). Rays of the World. Clayton South, Victoria : CSIRO Publishing 790 pp.

Common Name References

Nelson, J.S. 1994. Fishes of the World. New York : John Wiley & Sons 600 pp. [61] (Deepwater Stingray)

History of changes

• Plesiobatis Nishida, K. 1990. Phylogeny of the suborder Myliobatidoidei. Memoirs of the Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University 37(1-2): 1-108 [98].

  Type species:

   Urotrygon daviesi Wallace, 1967 by original designation.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Indo-west-central Pacific.

IMCRA

Central Eastern Province (12), Central Eastern Transition (15), Kenn Transition (16), Kenn Province (17), Northeast Province (18), Northeast Transition (19), Timor Province (2), Northwest Transition (3), Northwest Province (4), Central Western Transition (5)

General References

Séret, B. & Last, P.R. 2016. Giant Stingarees. Family Plesiobatidae. pp. 674-675 in Last, P.R., White, W.T., Carvalho, M.R. de, Séret, B., Stehmann, M.F.W. & Naylor, G.J.P. (eds.). Rays of the World. Clayton South, Victoria : CSIRO Publishing 790 pp.

History of changes