Aetomylaeus vespertilio ( Bleeker, 1852 )

White, William T. & Ko’Ou, Alfred, 2018, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of Papua New Guinea, Zootaxa 4411 (1), pp. 1-82 : 66

Aetomylaeus vespertilio ( Bleeker, 1852)

Ornate Eagle Ray

Myliobatis vespertilio Bleeker, 1852: 85 . Holotype: RMNH 7460 . Type locality: Jakarta, Java, Indonesia.

Local synonymy: Aetomylaeus maculata— Filewood, 1973: 14 (PNG). Aetomylaeus maculatus— Kailola, 1987: 33 (PNG). Aetomylaeus vespertilio— White et al., 2018: 278, figs (PNG).

PNG voucher material: None.

Remarks: First recorded from PNG by Filewood (1973) as Aetomylaeus maculata . Colour notes by Filewood (1973), i.e. “rear half of disk with pale “eyespots” and black lines”, is distinctive of A. vespertilio and not the white spotted Aetomylaeus maculatus (Gray, 1834) . A dried tail recently recorded from a recent catch at the mouth of the Sepik River in East Sepik Province; an old photograph of Filewood’s clearly depicts this species, probably from southern PNG.