Acroteriobatus

Life-forms

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: Rhinopristiformes

Familia: Rhinobatidae
Subfamilia: Rhinobatinae
Genus: Acroteriobatus

Species: A. andysabini – A. annulatus – A. blochii – A. leucospilus – A. ocellatus – A. omanensis – A. salalah – A. stehmanni – A. variegatus – A. zanzibarensis
Name

Acroteriobatus Giltay, 1928

Type species: Rhinobatus (Syrrhina) annulatus Müller & Henle, 1841

Etymology: etymology not explained; perhaps acro- (= top or peak); –terion (= place or tool), allusions not evident; batis, Greek for a flat fish, usually applied to a skate or ray. (From: The ETYFish project).
References

Giltay, L. 1928. Notes ichthyologiques. II.--Une espèce nouvelle de Rhinobatus du Congo belge (Rhinobatus congolensis, nov. sp.). Annales de la Société Royale Zoologique de Belgique 59: 21–27. Reference page.
Last, P.R., Henderson, A.C. & Naylor, G.J.P. 2016. Acroteriobatus omanensis (Batoidea: Rhinobatidae), a new guitarfish from the Gulf of Oman. Zootaxa 4144(2): 276–286. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4144.2.9. Reference page.
Last, P.R., Séret, B. & Naylor, G.J.P. 2016. A new species of guitarfish, Rhinobatos borneensis sp. nov. with a redefinition of the family-level classification in the order Rhinopristiformes (Chondrichthyes: Batoidea). Zootaxa 4117(4): 451–475. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4117.4.1. Reference page.

Acroteriobatus is a genus of fish in the Rhinobatidae family. Although its constituent species were previously assigned to Rhinobatos, recent authors treat it as distinct.[1][2]

They are found near the shore off southern Africa and in the northwestern Indian Ocean. They are brownish above, often with a spotted pattern, and reach up to 60–140 cm (2.0–4.6 ft) depending on the exact species.[2]
Species

There are eight currently recognized species in this genus:[1][2]

Acroteriobatus andysabini (2021) (Malagasy blue-spotted guitarfish)
Acroteriobatus annulatus (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841) (Lesser guitarfish)
Acroteriobatus blochii (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841) (Bluntnose guitarfish)
Acroteriobatus leucospilus (Norman, 1926) (Grayspotted guitarfish)
Acroteriobatus ocellatus (Norman, 1926) (Speckled guitarfish)
Acroteriobatus omanensis Last, Hendeson & Naylor, 2016 (Oman guitarfish)
Acroteriobatus salalah (J. E. Randall & Compagno, 1995) (Salalah guitarfish)
Acroteriobatus stehmanni (2021) (Socotra blue-spotted guitarfish)
Acroteriobatus variegatus (Nair & Lal Mohan, 1973) (Stripenose guitarfish)
Acroteriobatus zanzibarensis (Norman, 1926) (Zanzibar guitarfish)

References

Last, P.R.; Séret, B. & Naylor, G.J.P. (2016). "A new species of guitarfish, Rhinobatos borneensis sp. nov. with a redefinition of the family-level classification in the order Rhinopristiformes (Chondrichthyes: Batoidea)". Zootaxa. 4117 (4): 451–475. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4117.4.1. PMID 27395187.
Last; White; de Carvalho; Séret; Stehmann; Naylor, eds. (2016). Rays of the World. CSIRO. pp. 77–86. ISBN 9780643109148.