''Dasyomyliobatis'' is an extinct

stingray Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae ( ...

genus in the monotypic family Dasyomyliobatidae, of the order Myliobatiformes. It contains a single species, ''D. thomyorkei'', known from the Eocene

Monte Bolca Monte Bolca is a lagerstätte near Verona, Italy that was one of the first fossil sites with high quality preservation known to Europeans, and is still an important source of fossils from the Eocene. Geology Monte Bolca was uplifted from the T ...

Lagerstätte of Italy. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

references the English musician and

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

vocalist Thom Yorke. The genus is characterized by a unique hybrid dentition and pectoral fin morphology that allowed the shift from undulatory to oscillatory swimming (and a resulting shift from a benthic to pelagic lifestyle), and to exploit a variety of prey from soft-bodied to hard-shelled organisms. As suggested by the genus name, it displays intermediate traits between the whiptail stingrays ( Dasyatidae) and the eagle rays ( Myliobatidae), and can thus be considered a

transitional form A transitional fossil is any fossilized remains of a life form that exhibits traits common to both an ancestral group and its derived descendant group. This is especially important where the descendant group is sharply differentiated by gross a ...

in the origin of pelagic rays. Dasyomyliobatidae is thought to represent a

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

to the Myliobatidae, and the two groups likely diverged during the Late Cretaceous. Dasyomyliobatis reconstruction

The Monte Bolca formation is thought to represent a shallow sea of the Tethys Ocean with scattered

coral reefs A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of Colony (biology), colonies of coral polyp (zoology), polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, wh ...

and

seagrass beds A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...

. With its combination of traits, ''Dasyomyliobatis'' may have been able to forage in both these shallow-water ecosystems as well as the open ocean.

References

Myliobatiformes Eocene cartilaginous fish Prehistoric cartilaginous fish genera Fossil taxa described in 2023 Ypresian genera {{paleo-batoid-stub