Poster Presentation Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Conference 2016

Sex-biased dispersal in the short-tail stingray (#588)

Emily Roycroft 1 2 , Agnes Le Port 1 3 4 , Shane Lavery 1 4
  1. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
  2. The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VICTORIA, Australia
  3. Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia
  4. Institute of Marine Science, Leigh Marine Laboratory, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

The short-tail stingray (Dasyatis brevicaudata) is a large, coastal ray species with a disjunct range across the Southern Hemisphere. Recent work using mitochondrial DNA in this species from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa (Le Port and Lavery 2012) has indicated strong population structure in the maternal line. Given the mounting evidence for sex-biased dispersal in sharks, this finding suggests that female philopatry and male-biased dispersal may also occur in stingrays. In support of this, we present evidence for male-biased dispersal in the short-tail stingray and a nuclear DNA-based measure of population structure for the species around New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere.