[Potamotrygon marinae n. sp., a new species of freshwater stingrays from French Guiana (Myliobatiformes, Potamotrygonidae)]

Abstract

Six specimens of freshwater stingrays from the French Guiana belonging to the genus Potamotrygon [S.W. Garman, On the pelvis and external sexual organs of selachians, with special reference to the new genera Potamotrygon and Disceus, Proc. Bost. Soc. nat. Hist. 19 (1877) 197-215], do not present characters that are typically shown by species to which they have been attributed. Five belong to a new species here named Potamotrygon marinae n. sp. This species is differentiated from the others by the feebly development of the prepelvic process, the development of the postorbital process as an enlarged blade, the unsegmented angular cartilage, the dorsal surface coloration composed of wide circular patches themselves formed by smaller pale patches, the almost dark coloration of the ventral surface tessellated with pale patches, and the small sized spiny tubercles situated in the middorsal region, before the caudal sting.