Holohalaelurus punctatus ( Gilchrist, 1914 )

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 : 51

Holohalaelurus punctatus ( Gilchrist, 1914)

Whitespotted Izak Catshark

Scylliorhinus punctatus Gilchrist, 1914: 129 , fig. Neotype: SAIAB 6128 [formerly RUSI 6128; previously ORI 2529] designated by Human, 2006b: 6, fig. 2. Type locality: Red Cliff off Bazaruto, Mozambique.

Local synonymy: Scylliorhinus punctatus : Gilchrist, 1914: 129, fig.; Thompson, 1914: 138; Gilchrist, 1921: 44; Gilchrist, 1922b: 44; Barnard, 1925: 43; von Bonde, 1934: 15. Scyliorhinus (Halaelurus) polystigma Regan, 1921: 413 (original description); Norman, 1939: 10, fig. 2b. Halaelurus (Holohalaelurus) punctatus: Fowler, 1934a: 235 ; Fowler, 1941: 42. Halaelurus punctatus: Fowler, 1935: 361 , fig. 1; Fowler, 1941: 42. Scyliorhinus (Halaelurus) punctatus: Norman, 1939: 10 . Holohalaelurus punctatus: Smith, 1949a: 55 , fig. 42, pl. 2; Smith, 1965: 55, fig. 42, pl. 2; Bass et al., 1975a: 23, fig. 14; Springer, 1979: 92, fig. 56; Compagno, 1984b: 337, fig.; Bass, 1986: 93, fig. 11.11, pl. 3; Compagno, 1988a: 156; Compagno et al., 1989: 54, pl.; Compagno, 1999: 119; Compagno et al., 2005: 237, fig., pl. 40; Human, 2006b: 6, fig. 2; Human, 2010: 25; Ebert, 2013: 183, fig. 246; Ebert et al., 2013 a: 359, fig., pl. 48; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 147; Weigmann, 2016: 877.

South Africa voucher material: BMNH 1921.3 . 1.1 (Holotype of H. polystigma from off Umvoti River , KZN). SAIAB 6134 , SAIAB 6135 , SAIAB 40829 , SAIAB 188971 , SAIAB 188972 , SAIAB 188973 , SAIAB 190082 .

South African distribution: North of Durban to the KZN border with Mozambique. Outside South Africa, this regional endemic is known only from southern Mozambique and Madagascar.

Remarks: Human (2006b) highlighted three issues that contributed to the taxonomic confusion of this species. This includes the loss of the holotype and whether it was ever formally accessioned, the type locality, and the species-complex in the KZN and southern Mozambique region. The specimen and illustration depicted by Gilchrist (1914) would qualify as the holotype, and it is likely to have gone to the SAM, but may never have been catalogued. During that period there is no reference to a scyliorhinid shark collected by Gilchrist in the SAM catalogue ( Human, 2006a). Although Gilchrist (1914) gives the type locality as Cape Point with no further details, Human (2006a) suggested that he was referring to Cape St. Lucia (KZN) rather that Cape Point (WC). This would make sense since despite thousands of survey trawls in the WC over the past five decades this species has not been observed. However, its occurrence in KZN waters is not unexpected. Furthermore, the survey vessel S.S. Pickle traveled continuously between the WC and KZN during the early 1900s. The KZN and southern Mozambique region has several species of Holohalaelurus co-occurring and until recently a lack of accurate descriptions precluded species-specific identification ( Human, 2006).

Conservation status: EN (2020).