Himantura microphthalma (Chen, 1948)
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The smalleye whip ray (Himantura microphthalma) is an obscure species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae. It is known only from a single specimen collected off Taiwan and assigned to the genus Dasyatis by J.T.F. Chen in 1948. In 1982, Leonard Compagno and Tyson Roberts moved it to the genus Himantura based on its apparent lack of a tail fold. In 2006, B. Mabel Manjaji-Matsumoto and Peter Last determined that the type specimen had been lost since Chen's description and that no further specimens have emerged since. Therefore, they considered this species to be a nomen dubium, perhaps conspecific with Dasyatis acutirostra.
Wikipedia contributors, Smalleye whip ray; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:48:17.917688+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Himantura microphthalma (Chen, 1948)
- Name authority
- (Chen, 1948)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Elasmobranchii
- Order
- Myliobatiformes
- Family
- Dasyatidae
- Genus
- Himantura
- 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
- familyDasyatidae Jordan & Gilbert, 1879
- genusHimantura Müller & Henle, 1837
- speciesHimantura microphthalma (Chen, 1948)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Himantura. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Himantura australis Last, White & Naylor, 2016 | DasyatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Himantura krempfi (Chabanaud, 1923) | DasyatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Himantura marginata (Blyth, 1860) | DasyatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Himantura pareh (Bleeker, 1852) | DasyatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Himantura arlyzae Borsa, Hernawan, Hocdé & Pouyaud, 2026 | DasyatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Himantura alcockii (Annandale, 1909) | DasyatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Himantura fava (Annandale, 1909) | DasyatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Himantura fluviatilis (Hamilton, 1822) | DasyatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Himantura leoparda Manjaji-Matsumoto & Last, 2008 | DasyatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Himantura tutul Borsa, Durand, Shen, Alyza, Solihin & Berrebi, 2013 | DasyatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| honeycomb stingrayHimantura uarnak (Gmelin, 1789) | DasyatidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Himantura undulata (Bleeker, 1852) | DasyatidaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Dasyatis microphthalmus Chen, 1948 Chen, 1948 | 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=271463 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:3LY3W. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.