Rhizoprionodon Whitley, 1929

Ebert, David A., White, William T., Ho, Hsuan-Ching, Last, Peter R., Nakaya, Kazuhiro, Séret, Bernard, Straube, Nicolas, Naylor, Gavin J. P. & De Carvalho, Marcelo R., 2013, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of Taiwan, Zootaxa 3752 (1), pp. 279-386 : 337

Genus Rhizoprionodon Whitley, 1929

Sharpnose Sharks / Bǿḛé

Rhizoprionodon Whitley, 1929: 354 ; a replacement name for Rhizoprion Ogilby, 1915 , preoccupied by Rhizoprion Jourdan, 1861 in mammals. Type species: Carcharias (Scoliodon) crenidens Klunzinger, 1880 , by original designation, a junior synonym of Carcharias acutus Rüppell, 1837 .

Rhizoprionodon acutus ( Rüppell, 1837)

Milk Shark / ȀĀBǿḛ

Carcharias acutus Rüppell, 1837: 65 , pl. 18 (fig. 4). Lectotype: SMF 2783 (stuffed), 440 mm, Jeddah , Saudi Arabia, Red Sea.

Local synonymy: Scoliodon walbeehmi : Jordan & Evermann, 1902: 318; Jordan & Richardson, 1909: 161, pl.63, fig.2; Fowler, 1930: 494; Fowler, 1941:134. Scoliodon palasorrah: Chen, 1948: 35 ; Chen, 1956: 19; Matsubara, 1955: 120 (Taiwan); Chen, 1963: 56, fig. 15 (THUP 1319); Teng, 1962: 124, fig. 33. Rhizoprionodon acutus: Chen & Yu, 1986: 137 ; Chen & Joung, 1993: 67, pl. 8-9; Shao et al., 2008: 236; Shao et al., 1993: 119; Chen, 2004: 22; Shen & Wu, 2011: 73, fig. (note: fig. is probably not of this species and likely Scoliodon macrorhynchos ).

Taiwan voucher material: (7 spec.) NMMB-P 15125 , Penghu, 8 Jul 1967 ; NMMB-P 6416 , Taichong , 6 May 1960 ; NMMB-P 6442 , Taichong , 22 Feb 1962 ; NMMB-P 6446 , Taichong , 22 Feb 1962 ; NMMB-P 6453 , Taichong , 2 Feb 1962 ; NMMB-P 678 , Penghu, 17 Jul 1960 ; NMMB-P 6683 , Penghu, 1 Aug 1957 .

Remarks: Commonly caught by coastal fisheries in Taiwan. Recent molecular analyses have revealed that it may represent a species complex ( Naylor et al, 2012); taxonomic investigation of this species complex is urgently required to determine whether the western North Pacific populations are a distinct species.

Conservation status: Least Concern.