smooth butterfly ray
Gymnura micrura (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Smooth butterfly ray caught offshore off Paramaribo, Suriname. The co-ordinates are the approximate catching location.
Tomas Willems & Hans Hillewaert · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The smooth butterfly ray (Gymnura micrura) is a species of cartilaginous fish in the family Gymnuridae. It is a member of the order Myliobatiformes, which contains 10 total families. Its natural habitats are shallow seas, subtidal aquatic beds, estuarine waters, and coastal saline lagoons. Its common name is derived from its compressed body, pectoral fins that are wider than their length, and overall diamond shape.
Wikipedia contributors, Smooth butterfly ray; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:04:42.475320+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Gymnura micrura (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- Name authority
- (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- Common name
- smooth butterfly ray
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Elasmobranchii
- Order
- Myliobatiformes
- Family
- Gymnuridae
- Genus
- Gymnura
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumChondrichthyes
- classElasmobranchii
- subclassNeoselachii
- infraclassBatoidea
- orderMyliobatiformes
- familyGymnuridae Fowler, 1934
- genusGymnura van Hasselt, 1823
- speciesGymnura micrura (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Gymnura. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Gymnura afuerae (Hildebrand, 1946) | GymnuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| spiny butterfly rayGymnura altavela (Linnaeus, 1758) | GymnuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| longsnout butterfly rayGymnura crebripunctata (Peters, 1869) | GymnuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Japanese butterflyrayGymnura japonica (Temminck & Schlegel, 1850) | GymnuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gymnura lessae Yokota & Carvalho, 2017 | GymnuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| California butterfly rayGymnura marmorata (Cooper, 1864) | GymnuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gymnura natalensis (Gilchrist & Thompson, 1911) | GymnuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gymnura poecilura (Shaw, 1804) | GymnuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gymnura tentaculata (Müller & Henle, 1841) | GymnuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gymnura bimaculata (Norman, 1925) | GymnuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gymnura crooki Fowler, 1934 | GymnuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gymnura hirundo (Lowe, 1843) | GymnuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Gymnura micura (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | synonym |
| Pteroplatea micrura (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | synonym |
| Raja micrura Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Bloch & Schneider, 1801 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=158529 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3HVQ5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.