Haploblepharus pictus (Müller & Henle, 1838c )

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 : 50

Haploblepharus pictus (Müller & Henle, 1838c)

Dark Shyshark

Scyllium pictum M̹ller & Henle, 1838c: 4 . Syntypes: BMNH (6 specimens dried, possibly lost?),?NMW 78529 (2 specimens), RMNH 4161-4164 (2 dried). See van Oijen, 2001 for type information. Type locality: Cape of Good Hope, Western Cape Province.

Local synonymy: Scyllium pictum : M̹ller & Henle, 1838c: 4. Scyllium edwardsii : G̹nther, 1870: 401 (in part); Regan, 1908b: 463 (in part). Haploblepharus edwardsii : Garman, 1913: 102 (in part); Thompson, 1914: 137 (in part); Gilchrist & Thompson, 1916: 283 (in part); Fowler, 1941: 64 (in part); von Bonde, 1945a: 1 (in part); von Bonde, 1945b: 220 (in part); Smith, 1949a: 54 (in part); Smith, 1950: 879 (in part); Smith, 1965: 54 (in part). Haploblepharus pictus: Bass et al., 1975a: 21 , fig. 13; Springer, 1979: 91; Compagno, 1984b: 335, fig.; Bass, 1986: 92, fig. 11.10; Compagno et al., 1989: 50, pl.; Compagno, 1999: 119; Heemstra & Heemstra, 2004: 67; Human & Compagno, 2006: 41; Human, 2007: 14, fig. 5; Ebert et al., 2013 a: 355, fig., pl. 48; NPOA, 2013: 46; da Silva et al., 2015: 248; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 147; Compagno, 2016: 1266: Weigmann, 2016: 877.

South Africa voucher material: RMNH 4161-4164 (probable Syntypes) . SAIAB [formerly RUSI] 4115, SAIAB [formerly RUSI] 4117, SAIAB [formerly RUSI] 6083 [previously ORI 6083 ] , SAIAB [formerly RUSI] 6084 [previously ORI 2874 ] , SAIAB [formerly RUSI] 6160 [previously ORI 2932 ] , SAIAB [formerly RUSI] 39993, SAIAB [formerly RUSI] 44494, SAIAB [formerly RUSI] 48499, SAIAB [formerly RUSI] 48500, SAM 3225 , SAM 10142, SAM 21941, SAM 22996, SAM 23296, SAM 23307, SAM 23578, SAM 23598, SAM 23811, SAM 24345, SAM 24545, SAM 26385, SAM 29303, SAM 29337, SAM 32526, SAM 32556, SAM 32617 . See Human (2007) for details.

South African distribution: West coast (NC) from the Orange River to east of the Storms River mouth (EC).

Remarks: Haploblepharus pictus was synonymized or misidentified by most authors before Bass et al. (1975) resurrected it as a valid species. The species is most often misidentified with H. edwardsii where the two species overlap between False Bay and Hermanus (WC). A near endemic to South Africa, the northern range of this species is just north of L̹deritz, Namibia ( Human, 2007).

Conservation status: LC (2019).