Pteroplatytrygon violacea ( Bonaparte, 1832 )

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 : 95

Pteroplatytrygon violacea ( Bonaparte, 1832)

Pelagic Stingray

Trygon violacea Bonaparte, 1832 : fasc. 1, punt. 6, Pl. 155. Syntypes: ANSP 385 , ANSP 386 ,?NMW 91239 (dry). Type locality: Italy, western Mediterranean Sea .

Local synonymy: Trygon purpurea : Smith [A.] in M̹ller & Henle, 1841: 160, pl. 52 (type locality South Africa, no known types; based on drawing by A. Smith [BMNH]); Bleeker, 1860: 58; Gilchrist, 1902: 169. Dasybatis purpurea : Thompson, 1914: 163; von Bonde & Swart, 1923: 16; Barnard, 1925: 79; Barnard, 1959: 27. Dasyatis purpurea: Barnard, 1934: 229 . Dasyatis purpureus: Smith, 1949a: 71 ; Smith, 1961a: 71; Smith, 1965: 71. Dasyatis violacea: Compagno & Heemstra, 1984: 5 ; Compagno, 1986: 137, fig. 30.5. Pteroplatytrygon violacea: Compagno et al., 1989: 104 , pl.; NPOA, 2013: 61; Ebert & Dando, 2014: 95, fig.; da Silva et al., 2015: 246; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 147; Last et al., 2016h: 356; Last et al., 2016i: 604, fig. 25.75; Weigmann, 2016: 976.

South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 25936.

South African distribution: False Bay (WC) to Algoa Bay (EC), but likely wider ranging along the coast.

Remarks: The species has a complicated taxonomic history in South Africa having been confused with Pateobatis fai in KZN. Smith [A.] (in M̹ller & Henle, 1841) described Trygon purpurea (= P. violacea ) citing South Africa as the type locality, but the species apparently was not seen again until a specimen was caught off Kalk Bay in False Bay in 1933 ( Barnard, 1934). Although Wallace (1967c) referred to Dasyatis purpureus , his description and figure 24 are clearly that of P. fai or a similar looking species, but not P. violacea . The species was once thought to be quite rare in South Africa, with only a few specimens known ( Compagno et al., 1989). However, it appears to be somewhat commonly caught in the chokka (= squid) fishery, but is usually not reported as bycatch.

Conservation status: LC (2019).