Neotrygon australiae Last, White & Serét, 2016h

White, William T. & Ko’Ou, Alfred, 2018, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of Papua New Guinea, Zootaxa 4411 (1), pp. 1-82 : 57-58

Neotrygon australiae Last, White & Serét, 2016h

Australian Bluespotted Maskray

Neotrygon australiae Last, White & Serét, 2016h : 542, Figs 5b, 6b, 7b, 9. Holotype: CSIRO H 7016-01. Type locality: southwest of Weipa, Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, Australia.

Local synonymy: Neotrygon kuhldi— Filewood, 1973 (in part): 13 (PNG; misspelling of kuhlii ). Neotrygon australiae Last et al., 2016 h: 542 (Daru, Western Province); Last et al., 2016a: 585 (New Guinea); White et al., 2018: 240, figs (PNG).

PNG voucher material: (2 spec.) KFRS E.680 (field code 220341), adult male 301 mm DW , KFRS E.681 (field code 220342), adult male 301 mm DW, Daru fish market, Western Province, 9°03.91′ S, 143°12.59′ E , 22 Oct. 2014.

Remarks: Previously considered to be conspecific with Neotrygon kuhlii (Müller & Henle, 1841) but recently described as a new species from northern Australia (not east coast), Papua New Guinea and eastern Indonesia. Filewood (1973) lists N. kuhldi but with variable characters (such as colour) so probably includes multiple species. Possibly restricted to parts of the Western and Gulf provinces with N. cf. trigonoides replacing it further eastwards; ranges for the species in the kuhlii complex in PNG needs investigating.