Torpedo fuscomaculata Peters, 1855

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 : 72

Torpedo fuscomaculata Peters, 1855

Blackspotted Electric Ray

Torpedo fuscomaculata Peters, 1855: 466 . Lectotype: ZMB 4573 . Type locality: Angoxe [Angoche], Ibo, Mozambique, Western Indian Ocean.

Local synonymy: Torpedo smithii : G̹nther, 1870: 451 (original description, South Africa); Gilchrist, 1902: 167; Thompson, 1914: 160. Narcobatus smithi : Barnard, 1925: 90. Torpedo fuscomaculata: Smith, 1964: 292 ; Wallace, 1967a: 49, figs. 25–26; Compagno, 1986: 112, fig. 23.1, pl. 5; Compagno et al., 1989: 80, pl.; Compagno, 1999: 116; Heemstra & Heemstra, 2004: 77; NPOA, 2013: 51; da Silva et al., 2015: 248; Ebert et al., 2015: 237; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 146; de Carvalho et al., 2016: 197, fig. 18.12; Weigmann, 2016: 915. Torpedo cf. fuscomaculata: Compagno, 1999: 116 .

South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 2743, SAIAB 2876, SAIAB 3576, SAIAB 7835, SAIAB 7843, SAIAB 8530, SAIAB 10254, SAIAB 11126, SAIAB 11127, SAIAB 11128, SAIAB 11130, SAIAB 11131, SAIAB 11780, SAIAB 12189, SAIAB 12190, SAIAB 12876, SAIAB 12981, SAIAB 13613, SAIAB 14622, SAIAB 15428, SAIAB 16733, SAIAB 25349, SAIAB 25929, SAIAB 26454, SAIAB 26455, SAIAB 26499, SAIAB 26500, SAIAB 26501, SAIAB 26502, SAIAB 26883, SAIAB 26962, SAIAB 37572, SAIAB 38693, SAIAB 40773, SAIAB 42736, SAIAB 44184, SAIAB 44209, SAIAB 46279, SAIAB 48225, SAIAB 48520, SAIAB 48535, SAIAB 49161, SAIAB 51960, SAIAB 52006, SAIAB 52658, SAIAB 54205, SAIAB 54850, SAIAB 54851, SAIAB 54852, SAIAB 54853, SAIAB 54854, SAIAB 65713, SAIAB 78295, SAIAB 186533.

South African distribution: Cape Agulhas (WC) to northern KZN.

Remarks: This species may be a complex of several regional species throughout the WIO.A review of this complex is currently under investigation (D.A. Ebert & M.R. de Carvalho, unpubl. data).

Conservation status: DD (2019).