Heteroscymnoides marleyi Fowler, 1934

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 : 35

Heteroscymnoides marleyi Fowler, 1934

Longnose Pygmy Shark

Heteroscymnoides marleyi Fowler, 1934: 240 , fig. 4. Holotype: ANSP 53046 . Type locality: Point Ocean Beach , Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, southwestern Indian Ocean.

Local synonymy: Heteroscymnus longus : Fowler, 1925b: 191; Barnard, 1927: 1013. Heteroscymnoides marleyi: Fowler, 1934: 240 , fig. 4.; Smith, 1949a: 56, fig. 45; Bigelow & Schroder, 1957: 132, figs. 15f, g, 16e; Smith, 1965: 56, fig. 45; Bass et al., 1976: 49, fig. 35; Compagno, 1984a: 92, fig.; Bass et al., 1986: 58, fig. 5.19; Compagno et al., 1989: 34, pl.; Compagno, 1999: 115; Compagno et al., 2005: 126, fig., pl. 14; Ebert, 2013: 113, fig. 152; Ebert et al., 2013 a: 169, fig., pl. 17; Ebert & Mostada, 2013: 48, fig.; Ebert & Dando, 2014: 83, fig.; Ebert, 2015: 108, fig. 126; Ebert & Mostada, 2015: 41, fig.; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 144; Weigmann, 2016: 892.

South Africa voucher material: ANSP 53046.

South Africa distribution: Known from a single specimen picked up on a beach at Durban ( Fowler, 1934).

Remarks: The holotype was picked up on a beach near Vetches Pier, Durban, on 4 January 1923. The 12.6 cm TL female specimen was collected by H.W. Bell-Marley who sent it to H.W. Fowler who originally mistook it for Heteroscymnus longus Tanaka, 1912 ; a species referable to the genus Somniosus . Fowler (1934) later revised his original identification and described it as a new genus and species. The species appears to be wide-ranging in the Southern Hemisphere with the only six known specimens occurring in three widely dispersed locations in the southwestern Indian Ocean, southeastern Atlantic Ocean, and southeastern Pacific Ocean ( Ebert, 2015).

Conservation status: LC (2019).