Pastinachus ater (Macleay, 1883a)

White, William T. & Ko’Ou, Alfred, 2018, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of Papua New Guinea, Zootaxa 4411 (1), pp. 1-82 : 59

Pastinachus ater (Macleay, 1883a)

Broad Cowtail Ray

Taeniura atra Macleay, 1883a: 598 . Holotype: AMS I.9762. Type locality: Port Moresby district, Papua New Guinea.

Local synonymy: Trygon sephen— Peters, 1877: 853 (New Britain); Ogilby, 1888: 20 (southeastern New Guinea); Günther, 1910: 495 (New Britain); Duncker & Mohr, 1934: 84 (Seeadler Harbour, Manus). Taeniura atra Macleay, 1883a: 598 (Port Moresby district). Dasyatis sephen— Fowler, 1934: 386 (Port Moresby); Munro, 1958: 114 (New Guinea); Munro, 1967: 15, pl. 2, fig. 19 (New Guinea); Haines, 1979a: 6 (Purari Delta); Haines, 1979b: 94 (Purari Delta). Pastinachus dephen - Filewood, 1973: 12 (PNG, misspelling of sephen ). Pastinachus atrus— Last & Stevens, 2009: 456 (New Guinea). Pastinachus sephen — Allen, 1998: 67 (Milne Bay); Allen et al., 2003: 112 (Milne Bay). Pastinachus ater— White et al., 2018: 34, figs (PNG).

PNG voucher material: (4 spec.) AMS I.9762 (holotype), female 404 mm DW, Port Moresby, 9°29’ S, 147°05’ E, 1883 ; KFRS E.043 (dried jaws), adult male, Rabaul , East New Britain, 1964 ; KFRS E.044 (dried jaws), adult male, Kairuku, Yule Island , Central Province, 18 Jan. 1965 ; USNM 218543 , juvenile male 410 mm DW, Parama Island , Western Province, 15 Dec. 1975 .

Remarks: First recorded from PNG by Peters (1877) as Trygon sephen from New Britain. Macleay (1883a) described as a new species, Taeniura atra , based on a specimen collected from off Port Moresby; subsequently included in the synonymy of Pastinachus sephen but recently resurrected as a valid species. Caught occasionally by prawn trawlers and probably also by coastal fishers.