Biologists have discovered two new species of stingray in the Amazon rainforest. The x-ray image seen above is of a preadult male of the Heliotrygon gomesi species. The other species found is the Heliotrygon rosai.
Because of their distinct round shape, the two new species are informally called "pancake stingrays". The specimens of the new species were mostly found in Rio Nanay, near Iquitos, Peru. This new discovery brings the count of the neotropical stingray genera from two to four.
The new stingrays are quite rare and according to biologist Nathan Lovejoy, a member of the team that discovered the species, it took quite a while to collect enough specimens of the species to accurately describe them.
The most important part of this discovery is that it shows we have not fully explored the vast Amazon forest and that there are many more secrets to uncover.
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