Mobulidae
Family of cartilaginous fishes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mobulidae are a family of rays (manta rays and devilfishes) consisting mostly of large species living in the open ocean rather than on the sea bottom.
| Mobulidae Temporal range: Possible Late Cretaceous record[1] | |
|---|---|
| |
| Mobula birostris at Hin Daeng, Thailand | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Division: | Batomorphi |
| Order: | Myliobatiformes |
| Family: | Mobulidae Gill, 1893[2] |
| Genera | |
Taxonomy
The Mobulidae have been variously considered a subfamily of the Myliobatidae by some authors,[3][4] and a distinct family nby others, but recent work favors the latter.[5] Two genera have been traditionally recognized, Manta and Mobula, but recent DNA analysis shows that Mobula as traditionally recognized is paraphyletic to manta rays, making Manta a junior synonym of Mobula and Mobula the only extant genus of the family.[6]
Fossil record
Several genera of fossil mobulids are known from teeth, including Archaeomanta, Burnhamia, Eomobula, and Paramobula.[7][page needed][8][9] The earliest records of mobulids are of Archaeomanta from the Early Paleocene.[1] A potentially earlier record may be Cretomanta from the mid-Cretaceous, but this genus may represent a planktivorous shark potentially related to Aquilolamna.[10][11]
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