Potamotrygonidae

River stingrays or freshwater stingrays are Neotropical freshwater fishes of the family Potamotrygonidae in the order Myliobatiformes, one of the four orders of batoids, cartilaginous fishes related to sharks. They are found in rivers in tropical and subtropical South America. A single marine genus, Styracura, of the tropical West Atlantic and East Pacific are also part of Potamotrygonidae. They are generally brownish, greyish or black, often with a mottled, speckled or spotted pattern, have disc widths ranging from 31 to 200 centimetres (1.0–6.6 ft) and venomous tail stingers. River stingrays feed on a wide range of smaller animals and the females give birth to live young. There are more than 35 species in five genera.

Potamotrygonidae

Raimond Spekking · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
Sits inside
MyliobatoideiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Myliobatiformes

Time the record covers

At least 34 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Eocene — about 1 of 26 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 6 of 26 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 18 of 26 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 26 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 26 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 1 occurrence25–24 Mya — about 1 occurrence24–22 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 1 occurrence14–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 4 occurrences11–9.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences9.6–8.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences8.0–6.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.8–3.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.2–1.7 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences37.71 Mya3.6 Mya49 Mya1.7 Mya

26 occurrences of Potamotrygonidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

26 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

7 formations

Pebas — 7.36°S, 74.96°WPebas — 3.74°S, 73.25°WChambira — 7.32°S, 74.93°WChambira — 7.35°S, 74.95°WPozo — 7.33°S, 74.95°WPozo — 6.58°S, 76.28°WVillavieja — 3.23°N, 75.18°WVillavieja — 3.22°N, 75.14°WParana — 31.38°S, 60.23°WSolimoes — 10.12°S, 66.88°WSan Gregorio — 11.30°N, 70.24°W

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The named rock units Potamotrygonidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Potamotrygonidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Potamotrygonidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

300 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 14 sites for Potamotrygonidae, and this reads all of them. 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

9 references

Each of the 26 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. 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 Potamotrygonidae

Credit
Raimond Spekking
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Potamotrygonidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itMyliobatoidei through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Garman 1877