Dasyatidae

The whiptail stingrays are a family, the Dasyatidae, of rays in the order Myliobatiformes. They are found worldwide in tropical to temperate marine waters, and a number of species have also penetrated into fresh water in Africa, Asia, and Australia. Members of this family have flattened pectoral fin discs that range from oval to diamond-like in shape. Their common name comes from their whip-like tails, which are much longer than the disc and lack dorsal and caudal fins. All whiptail stingrays, except the porcupine ray, have one or more venomous stings near the base of the tail, which is used in defense. In order to sting their victims, they jerk their tails as the stinger falls off and stays in the wound that they have created. The stinger of a whiptail stingray is pointy, sharp with jagged edges. During mating season, males often hold onto females by using teeth which curve towards the corners of their mouths. They range in size from 0.18 to 2.0 m or more across in the case of the smalleye stingray and giant freshwater stingray. Species, being highly electroreceptive, can detect weak electric fields from prey. Electroreception is a product of electroreceptors dispersed across the skin. This network of pores is part of organs known as the ampullae of Lorenzini.

Dasyatidae

Dan Hershman · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
whiptail stingrayPBDB
Sits inside
DasyatoideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Myliobatiformes

Time the record covers

At least 154 million years on record.

The record covers at least 154.8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 157.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 1 of 581 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 2 of 581 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 39 of 581 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 50 of 581 occurrencesEocene — about 186 of 581 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 37 of 581 occurrencesMiocene — about 194 of 581 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 38 of 581 occurrencesPleistocene — about 34 of 581 occurrences161–156 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences156–150 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences145–140 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences140–134 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences134–129 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences129–123 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences123–118 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences118–113 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences113–107 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences107–102 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences102–97 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences97–91 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences91–86 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences86–81 Mya — about 4 occurrences81–75 Mya — about 5 occurrences75–70 Mya — about 13 occurrences70–64 Mya — about 31 occurrences64–59 Mya — about 24 occurrences59–54 Mya — about 32 occurrences54–48 Mya — about 48 occurrences48–43 Mya — about 36 occurrences43–38 Mya — about 36 occurrences38–32 Mya — about 51 occurrences32–27 Mya — about 20 occurrences27–21 Mya — about 14 occurrences21–16 Mya — about 45 occurrences16–11 Mya — about 89 occurrences11–5.4 Mya — about 55 occurrences5.4–0 Mya — about 74 occurrences154.8 Mya11.7 ka161 Mya0 Mya

581 occurrences of Dasyatidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

581 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

166 formations

Esbarrondadoiro — 38.11°N, 8.36°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.17°N, 8.17°WEsbarrondadoiro — 39.30°N, 8.12°WKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.08°N, 36.38°EKoobi Fora — 3.89°N, 36.29°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.15°N, 36.40°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.09°N, 36.31°EMatam — 15.32°N, 13.03°WMatam — 15.31°N, 13.09°WQasr el-Sagha — 29.32°N, 30.05°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.27°N, 30.01°EBirket Qarun — 29.28°N, 30.03°ELagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.28°WLagos-Portimão — 37.12°N, 8.54°WLagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.67°WDongen — 52.73°N, 6.30°EDongen — 53.16°N, 6.22°EEl Molino — 17.69°S, 65.94°WEl Molino — 18.14°S, 65.76°WMarnes de Donzacq — 43.75°N, 0.84°WAguja — 29.32°N, 103.52°WAguja — 29.10°N, 103.17°WSubathu — 30.98°N, 76.98°ESubathu — 29.81°N, 78.61°ESubathu — 30.08°N, 78.34°EFort Union — 46.05°N, 104.48°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 107.00°WFort Union — 47.58°N, 107.05°WCantaure — 11.97°N, 70.02°WCantaure — 11.94°N, 70.02°WMarnes de Miretrain — 43.69°N, 1.13°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WCalvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WCalvert — 38.75°N, 76.97°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WCouche II — 32.87°N, 6.57°WCouche II — 32.72°N, 6.78°WCouche II — 32.85°N, 6.63°WCouche II — 32.81°N, 6.83°WUrumaco — 11.25°N, 70.27°WUrumaco — 11.24°N, 70.25°WBerchem — 51.20°N, 4.44°ELisbon — 31.83°N, 88.25°WLisbon — 31.36°N, 86.52°WAchen — 47.88°N, 12.27°EAtuatuca — 50.84°N, 5.55°EUpper Marine Molasse — 48.56°N, 10.06°EGatun — 9.35°N, 79.80°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.84°WGatun — 9.34°N, 79.88°W

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The named rock units Dasyatidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 142 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 158 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dasyatidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Dasyatidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

4,164 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 358 sites for Dasyatidae, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

226 references

Each of the 581 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 214 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Dasyatidae

Credit
Dan Hershman
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Dasyatidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDasyatoidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Jordan and Gilbert 1879