Dipturus springeri ( Wallace, 1967a )

Ebert, David A., Wintner, Sabine P. & Kyne, Peter M., 2021, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of South Africa, Zootaxa 4947 (1), pp. 1-127 : 80-81

Dipturus springeri ( Wallace, 1967a)

Roughbelly Skate

Raja springeri Wallace, 1967a: 18 , figs. 9–10. Holotype: SAIAB [formerly RUSI] 989 [ex ORI B909 ]. Type locality: 48 kilometers east-southeast of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Western Indian Ocean.

Local synonymy:? Raja batis: Hulley, 1966: 512 . Raja springeri: Wallace, 1967a: 18 , figs. 9–10; Hulley, 1972a: 86, figs. 58–59; Hulley, 1986: 125, fig. 25.20; Stehmann, 1995: 105. Raja (Dipturus) springeri: Compagno et al., 1989: 92 , pl. (in part); Compagno et al., 1991: 96 (in part); Ebert et al., 1991: 76. Dipturus springeri: Compagno, 1999: 116 (in part); Compagno & Ebert, 2007: 139, fig. 6e (in part); Ebert & Compagno, 2007: 119; Ebert et al., 2008: 88; NPOA, 2013: 56 (in part); Ebert, 2014: 60, fig. 83; da Silva et al., 2015: 247 (in part); Ebert, 2015: 176, fig. 195 (in part?); Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 147 (in part); Last et al., 2016f: 22; Last et al., 2016g: 272, fig. 19.63; Weigmann, 2016: 946.

South Africa voucher material: Holotype: SAIAB 989 [ex ORI B 909 ].

South African distribution: KZN, but records from the EC and WC require confirmation due to confusion with the recently documented occurrence of D. nidarosiensis in South African waters.

Remarks: Until recently, this species was considered to occur from about L̹deritz, Namibia, south and all around the South African coast, and north to Kenya and east to Madagascar. However, the recent revelation that D. nidarosiensis occurs to South Africa highlights that a re-evaluation of these large Dipturus species is required to determine the extent of their range in the region.

Conservation status: LC (2019).