Belongs within: Cercopithecidae. Trachypithecus, leaf monkeys, is a genus of leaf-eating monkeys with distinct brow ridges found in southeast Asia. Sacred monkeys Published 11 August 2008 In this section, we’re considering the primate genus Semnopithecus. Once again, that’s a sentence that’s a bit easier to glibly write than it is to define. Semnopithecus includes the… Continue reading Trachypithecus
Category: Craniata
Acanthuridae
Belongs within: Acanthuriformes.Contains: Acanthurus. Reef surgeons Published 22 July 2026 For better or worse, the chains of pop culture bind us all. And so, for the last couple of decades, if anyone is asked to picture a tropical fish, one of the first two examples to come to mind is going to be this: Commonly known… Continue reading Acanthuridae
Rajiformes
Belongs within: Chondrichthyes.Contains: Raja, Bathyraja, Dipturus, Leucoraja. The Rajiformes are fairly generalised rays with head, body and pectoral fins combined into a flat disc, and a slender tail bearing very small dorsal and caudal fins but lacking stinging spines. The pelvic fins are strongly bilobate, with a narrow anterior and broad posterior lobe, and males… Continue reading Rajiformes
Myliobatiformes
Belongs within: Chondrichthyes.Contains: Myliobatidae, Urolophus, Himantura, Dasyatis, Gymnuridae, Potamotrygonidae. The Myliobatiformes are a group of rays with large pectoral fins combining with the head to form a broad disc, a slender tail often bearing strong stinging spines, and caudal and dorsal fins reduced or absent (Bond 1996). The fin disc is rhomboidal in shape with… Continue reading Myliobatiformes
Dipturus
Belongs within: Rajiformes. Dipturus is a cosmopolitan genus of skates with moderately long, naked claspers (Hulley 1972). Characters (Hulley 1972): Clasper moderately long, naked, with spatulate distal tip more or less dorso-ventrally flattened; pseudosiphon absent; inner dorsal lobe of glans with two clefts, separated by terminal bridge; rhipidion well developed; shield large and covered with pleated epithelia; sentinel… Continue reading Dipturus
Lacertibaenia
Belongs within: Episquamata.Contains: Amphisbaenia, Podarcis, Lacerta. The Lacertibaenia are a clade of lizards uniting the Lacertidae, wall lizards, with the Amphisbaenia, amphisbaenas. Synapomorphies (Müller et al. 2011): Supratemporal parietal processes short, dorsally flat; extensive contact between parietal and supratemporal; broad articulation between vomer and palatine; ectopterygoid laterally exposed; spheno-occipital epiphyses present; crista prootica reduced; crista tuberalis posterodorsally inclined; occipital recess ventrally… Continue reading Lacertibaenia
Pantestuguria
Belongs within: Centrocryptodira.Contains: Batagurinae, Testudinidae, Geoemyda. The Testudinoidae is a proposed clade uniting the land tortoises of the Testudinidae with the Asian pond turtles of the paraphyletic ‘Bataguridae’. The monophyly of this clade is unsettled, as proposed synapomorphies are also found in other testudinates, and are not universal within testudinoidaens (Gaffney & Meylan 1988). Pond… Continue reading Pantestuguria
Pristidae
Belongs within: Chondrichthyes. What the fish saw Published 23 May 2026 Morphology-wise, fish have done some really odd things in their time, and cartilaginous fish have done some of the oddest. And among those cartilaginous oddities, we should definitely count the sawfishes of the Pristidae. The most distinctive feature of sawfishes is the inspiration for their… Continue reading Pristidae
Syngnathidae
Belongs within: Syngnathoidei.Contains: Gastrophori, Corythoichthys, Urophori. The Syngnathidae, pipefishes and seahorses, are small, long-bodied fish with the body encased in dermal plates. Characters (Berg 1940): Two nasal openings on each side. Body completely covered with dermal plates. Dorsal fin, if present, single, without spines. Ventrals absent. Gill openings dorsal, very small. Nasals absent. Two or three preorbitals present. Supracleithrum… Continue reading Syngnathidae
Lophiiformes
Belongs within: Eupercaria.Contains: Antennarioidei, Ceratioidei. The Lophiiformes, anglerfishes and related taxa, are marine fishes with a spinous dorsal fin composed of one to a few flexible rays, some of which may be modified into a fishing apparatus (Bond 1996). The Lophiidae, anglerfishes or monkfishes, have a broad, more or less depressed body bearing numerous sharp… Continue reading Lophiiformes