Mobula

Mobula birostris

Taxonavigation

Taxonavigation: Dasyatoidea

Superregnum: Eukaryota Cladus: Unikonta Cladus: Opisthokonta Cladus: Holozoa Regnum: Animalia Subregnum: Eumetazoa Cladus: Bilateria Cladus: Nephrozoa Superphylum: Deuterostomia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Infraphylum: Gnathostomata Classis: Chondrichthyes Subclassis: Elasmobranchii Infraclassis: Euselachii Division/Cohort: Neoselachii Subdivision/Subcohort: Batoidea Superordo: Batomorphii Ordo: Myliobatiformes Subordo: Myliobatoidei Superfamilia: Dasyatoidea

Familia: Mobulidae
Genus: Mobula
Species: M. alfredi – M. birostris – M. eregoodootenkee – M. hypostoma – M. japanica – M. kuhlii – M. mobular – M. munkiana – M. rochebrunei – M. tarapacana – M. thurstoni

Name

Mobula Rafinesque, 1810: 48, 61

Type species: Mobula auriculata Rafinesque, 1810 [= Raia mobular Bonnaterre, 1788], by monotypy.

Synonyms

• Apterurus Rafinesque, 1810: 48, 62
  • Type species: Apterurus fabroni Rafinesque, 1810 [= Raia mobular Bonnaterre, 1788], by monotypy.
• Cephalopterus Risso, 1810: 14 [junior homonym of Cephalopterus E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1809]
  • Type species: Raja giorna Lacepède, 1803 [= Raia mobular Bonnaterre, 1788], by subsequent designation.
  • Placed on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Generic Names in Zoology by Direction 44 (ICZN, 1956).
• Apturus Rafinesque, 1815: 93 (emended spelling for Apterurus Rafinesque, 1810)
• Cephaloptera Cuvier (ex Duméril), 1816: 138
  • Type species: Raja cephaloptera Bloch & Schneider, 1801 [= Raia mobular Bonnaterre, 1788], by absolute tautonymy.
• Dicerobatus Blainville, 1816: 112 [= 120]
  • Type species: Raia mobular Bonnaterre, 1788, by monotypy.
• Dicerobatis Blainville, 1825: 40 (unjustified emendation of Dicerobatus Blainville, 1816)
• Manta Bancroft, 1829: 454
  • Type species: Cephalopterus manta Bancroft, 1829 [= Raja birostris Walbaum, 1792], by monotypy.
• Cephalopteram Griffith & Smith, 1834: 617 (erroneous spelling for Cephaloptera Cuvier, 1816)
• Ceratoptera Müller & Henle, 1837: 118
  • Type species: Cephaloptera giorna Lesueur, 1824 [= Raia mobular Bonnaterre, 1788], by subsequent monotypy.
• Pterocephalus Swainson, 1838: 170, 174 (replacement name for Cephaloptera Cuvier, 1816)
  • Type species: Raja giorna Lacepède, 1803 [= Raia mobular Bonnaterre, 1788], automatic.
• Pterocephala Swainson, 1839: 321 (alternative spelling of Pterocephalus Swainson, 1838)
• Brachioptilon Hamilton in Newman, 1849: 2358
  • Type species: Brachioptilon hamiltoni Hamilton, 1849 [= Raja birostris Walbaum, 1792], by monotypy.
• Diabolicthys Holmes, 1856: 45
  • Type species: Diabolicthys elliotti Holmes, 1856 [= Raja birostris Walbaum, 1792], by monotypy.
• Deratoptera Krefft, 1868: 3, 9, Fig. (considered a misspelling of Ceratoptera Müller & Henle, 1837)
• Ceratobatis Boulenger, 1897: 227
  • Type species: Ceratobatis robertsii Boulenger, 1897 [= Cephalopterus hypostomus Bancroft, 1831], by monotypy.
• Daemomanta Whitley, 1932: 327
  • Type species: Ceratoptera alfredi Krefft, 1868, by original designation.
• Indomanta Whitley, 1936: 11
  • Type species: Indomanta tombazii Whitley, 1936, by monotypy.

References

Primary references

• Bancroft, E.N. 1829. On the fish known in Jamaica as the sea-devil. The Zoological Journal 4(16) (art. 55): 444–457. BHL. Reference page. 
• Blainville, H. de. 1816. Prodrome d'une nouvelle distribution systématique du règne animal. Bulletin des sciences, par la Société philomathique de Paris 8: 105–112 [sic for 113–120] +121–124. BHL Reference page. 
• Cuvier G.L. 1816–1817. Le Règne Animal distribué d'après son organisation pour servir de base à l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction à l'anatomie comparée. Avec Figures, dessinées d'après nature. Tome II. Contenant Les reptiles, les poissons, les mollusques et les annélides. Edition 1, Deterville, Paris. pp. i–xviii + 1–532. [Pls. 9–10, in v. 4] DOI: 10.5962/bhl.title.41460 BHL Reference page. 
• ICZN 1956. Direction 44. Correction of certain entries relating to the names of genera in the class Aves made on the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology in the period up to the close of 1936 and addition to the Official Indexes of Rejected and Invalid Names in Zoology of certain names given to genera and species of the same class. Opinions and declarations rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1D: 211–232. BHL. Reference page. 
• Müller, J. & Henle, F.G.J. 1837. Über die Gattungen der Haifische und Rochen nach einer ... mit Hrn. Henle unternommenen gemeinschaftlichen Arbeit über die Naturgeschichte der Knorpelfische. Bericht über die zur Bekanntmachung geeigneten Verhandlungen der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1837: 111–118. BHL Reference page. 
• Rafinesque-Schmaltz, C.S. 1810. Indice d'ittiologia siciliana; ossia, catalogo metodico dei nomi latini, italiani, e siciliani dei pesci, che si rinvengono in Sicilia disposti secondo un metodo naturale e seguito da un appendice che contiene la descrizione de alcuni nuovi pesci siciliani. G. del Nobolo, Messina. 1–70, Pls. 1–2. BHL. Reference page. 
• Rafinesque, C.S. 1815. Analyse de la nature, ou tableau de l'univers et des corps organisés. Palerme: L'Imprimerie de Jean Barravecchia. 224 pp. BHL Reference page. 
• Risso, A. 1810. Ichthyologie de Nice, ou histoire naturelle des poissons du département des Alpes Maritimes. F. Schoell, Paris. i-xxxvi + 1-388, Pls. 1-11. BHL Reference page. 
• Swainson, W. 1838. On the natural history and classification of fishes, amphibians, & reptiles, or monocardian animals. A. Spottiswoode: London. Vol. 1: i–vi + 1–368. BHL. Reference page. 
• Swainson, W. 1839. The natural history and classification of fishes, amphibians, & reptiles, or monocardian animals. Spottiswoode & Co.: London. vol. 2: i–vi + 1–448. BHL Reference page. 

Additional references

• Duffy, C.A.J. & Vogiatzis, A. 2016. First record of the sicklefin devilray Mobula tarapacana (Myliobatiformes: Mobulidae) from Australian waters. Zootaxa 4126(1): 141–145. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4126.1.9. Reference page. 
• Marshall, A.D.; Compagno, L.J.V.; Bennett, M.B. 2009: Redescription of the genus Manta with resurrection of Manta alfredi (Krefft, 1868) (Chondrichthyes; Myliobatoidei; Mobulidae). Zootaxa, 2301: 1–28. Abstract & excerpt
• White, W.T., Corrigan, S., Yang, L., Henderson, A.C., Bazinet, A.L., Swofford, D.L. & Naylor, G.J.P. 2018. Phylogeny of the manta and devilrays (Chondrichthyes: Mobulidae), with an updated taxonomic arrangement for the family. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 182(1): 50–75. DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx018 . Reference page. 

Links

• Mobula and its species (including synonyms) in Catalog of Fishes, Eschmeyer, W.N., Fricke, R. & van der Laan, R. (eds.) 2025. Catalog of Fishes electronic version.
• Mobula species list in FishBase,
  Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (eds.) 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication, www.fishbase.org, version 02/2024.
• Mobula Rafinesque, 1810 – Taxon details on Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
• Manta Bancroft, 1829 – Taxon details on Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).

Vernacular names

Deutsch: Teufelsrochen
English: Devil ray, Manta ray
español: Diablo raya, manta, maroma
português: Ramanta
தமிழ்: பேய் திருக்கை
ไทย: ปลากระเบนปีศาจ, ปลากระเบนราหู, ปลากระเบนแมนตา
中文: 蝠鲼,蝠鲼属, 前口蝠鲼属, 鬼蝠属

For more multimedia, look at Mobula on Wikimedia Commons.