• Squatina mapama, new species from Panama

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Mon Jan 24 21:30:38 2022
    Squatina mapama, new species from Panama: first report of an angel shark
    from the Central American Caribbean

    Date:
    January 24, 2022
    Source:
    Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
    Summary:
    Genetic analyses helped identify a new cryptic shark species of
    the genus Squatina from the Western Atlantic Ocean.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== Genetic analyses helped identify a new cryptic shark species of the
    genus Squatina from the Western Atlantic Ocean.


    ========================================================================== Between 2010 and 2011, two research expeditions sponsored by the Spanish government exploring the biodiversity of benthic organisms -- those
    living on the ocean floor -- on Central America's Pacific and Caribbean
    coasts, came across a new shark species. The Squatina mapama n. sp.,
    collected off the Caribbean coast of Panama became the first record
    of an angel shark from the Central American Caribbean. A new paper
    co-authored by Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute staff scientist,
    D. Ross Robertson, described and named it.

    Many angel shark species are considered endangered by the International
    Union for the Conservation of Nature. Their genus, Squatina, goes way
    back, most likely originating in the Cretaceous (from about 145 to 66
    million years ago).

    Squatina are flat-bodied sharks resembling stingrays, and generally
    speaking, the different species are not easy to distinguish from each
    other with the naked eye. In fact, S. mapama (named after the Spanish government fisheries organization) looks much like another species
    that lives in the same part of the Caribbean, and also occurs in
    Panama: Squatina david. However, aside from a number of subtle physical differences between them, genetic analyses helped to establish them as
    a separate species, and distinct from other new world angel sharks.

    In reference to one of the distinguishing characteristics of S. mapama
    -- a short and narrow line of small scales or dermal denticles -- the
    authors suggested giving this new species the common name "small-crested
    angel shark." The small-crested angelshark is the fourth new species
    of Squatina identified in the Western Atlantic in the last decade, and
    although the total number of species in the genus has not been established
    with certainty, this study reveals the forensic value of genetic analyses
    for understanding the true biological diversity of a genus with various
    cryptic species (those that have very similar appearances).

    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
    Smithsonian_Tropical_Research_Institute. Note: Content may be edited
    for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Long, D.J., Ebert, D.A., Tavera, J., Acero P., A. & Robertson, D.R.

    Squatina mapama n. sp., a new cryptic species of angel shark
    (Elasmobranchii: Squatinidae) from the southwestern Caribbean Sea.

    Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, 2022 DOI:
    10.5281/zenodo.5806692 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220124151058.htm

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