- Semblen taurons, però se'n diferencien clarament per tindre les aletes pectorals (no tan amples com les rajades) soldades lateralment amb el cap i les fenedures es troben en posició ventral.
- Cos allargat i deprimit, la forma del qual recorda la d'una guitarra.
- El disc és llarg i estret, representant un terç de la llargària total.
- Tenen una filera mediodorsal d'espines.
- El rostre és angulós i aixafat.
- Les dues dorsals tenen la mateixa mida i es troben per darrere de les pèlviques.
- La caudal és petita, triangular, ben desenvolupada i no té lòbul inferior.[3][4]
- Les aletes pectorals són estretes, amb els àpexs molt arrodonits, i estan soldades als costats del cap fins a un poc per davant el nivell dels ulls.
- Sobre tota la llargada de cada costat de la regió caudal hi ha un estret replec cutani.
- Cua robusta.
- Musell allargat, de forma triangular, amb dues carenes o crestes rostrals ben marcades.
- Ulls i espiracles en posició dorsal.
- Obertures nasals allargades i obliqües.
- Boca recta.
- Dents nombroses, petites, arrodonides i disposades en mosaic.[5]
- Rhynchobatus djiddensis n'és l'espècie més grossa, ja que pot assolir els 3 m de longitud i els 225 kg de pes[6]
Són ovovivípars i les cries neixen completament desenvolupades.[7]
Són costaners bentònics: habiten als fons de sorra i fang. Molt rarament entren als estuaris i als cursos d'aigua dolça[8]
Viuen als oceans i mars tropicals, subtropicals i temperats, com ara l'Atlàntic, l'Índic i el Pacífic.[8]
Els agrada viatjar en moles nombroses.[6]
- Gènere Aptychotrema (Norman, 1926)[9]
- Gènere Platyrhina (Müller & Henle, 1838)[13]
- Gènere Platyrhinoidis (Garman, 1881)[14]
- Gènere Rhina (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)[16]
- Gènere Rhinobatos (Linck, 1790)[19]
- Rhinobatos albomaculatus (Norman, 1930)[20]
- Rhinobatos annandalei (Norman, 1926)[21]
- Rhinobatos annulatus (Müller i Henle, 1841)[22]
- Rhinobatos blochii (Müller i Henle, 1841)[22]
- Rhinobatos cemiculus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817)[23]
- Rhinobatos formosensis (Norman, 1926)[21]
- Rhinobatos glaucostigma (Jordan & Gilbert, 1883)[24]
- Rhinobatos granulatus (Cuvier, 1829)[25]
- Rhinobatos halavi (Forsskål, 1775)[26]
- Rhinobatos holcorhynchus (Norman, 1922)[27]
- Rhinobatos horkelii (Müller i Henle, 1841)[22]
- Rhinobatos hynnicephalus (Richardson, 1846)[28]
- Rhinobatos irvinei (Norman, 1931)[29]
- Rhinobatos jimbaranensis (Last, White & Fahmi, 2006)[30]
- Rhinobatos lentiginosus (Garman, 1880)[31]
- Rhinobatos leucorhynchus (Günther, 1867)[32]
- Rhinobatos leucospilus (Norman, 1926)[21]
- Rhinobatos lionotus (Norman, 1926)[21]
- Rhinobatos microphthalmus (Teng, 1959)[33]
- Rhinobatos nudidorsalis (Last, Compagno & Nakaya, 2004)[34]
- Rhinobatos obtusus (Müller i Henle, 1841)[35]
- Rhinobatos ocellatus (Norman, 1926)[21]
- Rhinobatos penggali (Last, White & Fahmi, 2006)[30]
- Rhinobatos percellens (Walbaum, 1792)[36]
- Rhinobatos petiti (Chabanaud, 1929)[37]
- Rhinobatos planiceps (Garman, 1880)[38]
- Rhinobatos prahli (Acero P. & Franke, 1995)
- Rhinobatos productus (Ayres, 1854)[39]
- Rhinobatos punctifer (Compagno & Randall, 1987)[40]
- Rhinobatos rhinobatos (Linnaeus, 1758)[41]
- Rhinobatos sainsburyi Last, 2004)[11]
- Rhinobatos salalah (Randall & Compagno, 1995)[42]
- Rhinobatos schlegelii (Müller i Henle, 1841)[35]
- Rhinobatos spinosus (Günther, 1870)[43]
- Rhinobatos thouin (?, 1798)[44]
- Rhinobatos typus (?, 1830)[45]
- Rhinobatos variegatus (Nair & Lal Mohan, 1973)[46]
- Rhinobatos zanzibarensis (Norman, 1926)[21]
- Gènere Rhynchobatus
- Gènere Tarsistes
- Gènere Trygonorrhina (Müller & Henle, 1838)[13]
- Gènere Zanobatus
- Gènere Zapteryx (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880)[49]
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Peter R. Last, Leonard J.V. Compagno and Kazuhiro Nakaya «Rhinobatos nudidorsalis, a new species of shovelnose ray (Batoidea: Rhinobatidae) from the Mascarene Ridge, central Indian Ocean». Ichthyological Research, 51, 2, 2004, pàg. 153–158. DOI: 10.1007/s10228-004-0211-0.
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Walbaum, J. J. 1792. Petri Artedi sueci genera piscium. In quibus systema totum ichthyologiae proponitur cum classibus, ordinibus, generum characteribus, specierum differentiis, observationibus plurimis. Redactis speciebus 242 ad genera 52. Ichthyologiae pars III. Ant. Ferdin. Rose, Grypeswaldiae (Greifswald). Artedi Piscium Pt. 3: [i-viii] + 1-723, Pls. 1-3.
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