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Molecular taxonomy of the guitarfish genus Acroteriobatus (Rhinopristiformes: Rhinobatidae)

Crossref DOI link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-025-01617-x

Published Online: 2026-01-26

Published Print: 2026-02

Update policy: https://doi.org/10.1007/springer_crossmark_policy

Authors

Groeneveld, Mia J. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1151-9196
Klein, Juliana D. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6741-9821
van Staden, Michaela https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2798-7821
Bennett, Rhett H. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9638-6811
Dicken, Matthew L. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9779-2347
Ebert, David A. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9705-2453
Mann, Bruce Q. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7130-6301
Perumal, Kashmika

Watson, Ralph G. A. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1105-9879
der Merwe, Aletta E. Bester-van https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0332-7864
Funding

Funding for this research was provided by:

National Research Foundation: South Africa (MCR240422215314)

Shark Conservation Fund

Stellenbosch University Postgraduate Scholarship Programme

Save Our Seas Foundation (Keystone Grants 431)

Save Our Seas Foundation (594)

Stellenbosch University
License Information

Text and Data Mining valid from 2026-01-26

Version of Record valid from 2026-01-26
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Article History

Received: 15 August 2025

Revised: 2 November 2025

Accepted: 2 December 2025

First Online: 26 January 2026

Declarations

:

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: Ethical clearance was provided by the Research Ethics (Animal Care and Use) committee of Stellenbosch University in the form of an Animal Notification with reference number #ACU-2024–29892. This research complies with IUCN and CITES policy statements.

: The sequence data that support the findings of this study are openly available in NCBI GenBank ( ) under accession numbers PV812446-PV812493, PV814376-PV814425 and in BOLD ( ) project code: MTACR.

: Conceptualization and methodology: MJG, JDK, MvS, RHB and AEB-vdM; project administration and supervision: JDK and AEB-vdM; funding acquisition: JDK, RHB and AEB-vdM; resources: JDK, MvS, RHB, MLD, BQM, RGAW, and AEB-vdM; validation: KP; formal analysis, visualization and writing—original draft: MJG; data curation, investigation and writing—review and editing: MJG, JDK, MvS, MLD, DAE, BQM, KP, RGAW, and AEB-vdM.

: Fig. : Evolview and Canva; Fig. : QGIS, Canva, and Adobe Illustrator; Fig. : R Studio; Fig. : PopArt, Canva, and Adobe Illustrator.

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