Phylogenetics, phylogeography and behavioural ecology of short-tailed (Dasyatis brevicaudata) and longtail (D. thetidis) stingrays

Abstract

Although common in coastal waters throughout the world, few studies have focused on stingrays of the genus Dasyatis. Short-tailed (Dasyatis brevicaudata) and longtail (D. thetidis) stingrays are temperate coastal stingrays with similar disjunct distributions, having been recorded from New Zealand, southern Australia and South Africa. This thesis investigated the phylogenetic relationships, population structure and behavioural ecology of D. brevicaudata and D. thetidis using a combination of molecular genetics, morphometric and meristic analyses, multiple tagging techniques and diving ecological surveys.