The Mobulidae (manta rays and devilfishes) are a family of rays consisting mostly of large species living in the open ocean rather than on the sea bottom.
Taxonomy
The Mobulidae have been variously considered a subfamily of the
Myliobatidae by some authors,
and a distinct family by others, but recent work favors the latter.
Two genera have been traditionally recognized, ''
Manta
Manta or mantas may refer to:
* Manta ray, large fish belonging to the genus ''Manta''
Arts and entertainment Fictional entities
* Manta (comics), a character in American Marvel Comics publications
* Manta (''Uridium''), a spaceship in the Br ...
'' and ''
Mobula
''Mobula'' is a genus of rays in the family Mobulidae that is found worldwide in tropical and warm, temperate seas. Some authorities consider this to be a subfamily of the Myliobatidae (eagle rays). Their appearance is similar to that of manta r ...
'', but recent DNA analysis shows that ''Mobula'' as traditionally recognized is paraphyletic to manta rays, making ''Manta'' a junior synonym of ''Mobula''.
Fossil record
Several genera of
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
mobulids are known, including ''
Archaeomanta
''Archaeomanta'' is an extinct genus of eagle ray that lived from the Cretaceous to the middle Neogene. It is one of the oldest known manta ray relatives. It is known from North Africa, the Middle East, the U.K., the U.S., and Uzbekistan
U ...
'', ''
Burnhamia'', ''
Eomobula'', and ''
Paramobula
''Paramobula'' is an extinct genus of ray in the family Myliobatidae (eagle rays). The genus was erected by Pfeil in 1981 to accommodate a fossil species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of ...
''.
References
Ray families
Myliobatiformes
Extant Cenomanian first appearances
Taxa named by Theodore Gill
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