Orectolobus ornatus ( De Vis, 1883 )

White, William T. & Ko’Ou, Alfred, 2018, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of Papua New Guinea, Zootaxa 4411 (1), pp. 1-82 : 16-17

Orectolobus ornatus ( De Vis, 1883)

Ornate Wobbegong

Crossorhinus ornatus De Vis, 1883: 289 . Holotype: QM I.164 (dry mount). Type locality: Moreton Bay , Queensland.

Local synonymy: Crossorhinus barbatus— Macleay, 1883a: 597 (Port Moresby) ; Ogilby, 1890: 181 (Port Moresby) . Orectolobus ornatus— Fowler, 1934: 385 (Port Moresby) ; Munro, 1958: 111 (Port Moresby); Filewood, 1973: 9 ( PNG) ; Compagno, 1984: 180 (PNG); Compagno, 2001: 158 (PNG); White et al., 2018: 62, figs (PNG).

PNG voucher material: (1 spec.) KFRS E.037A (dried jaws only), Basilisk Passage, Central Province, ~ 9°32’09” S, 147°07’51” E, Aug. 1964.

Remarks: First recorded from off Port Moresby by Macleay (1883a). A photograph of a specimen from L.W. Filewood’s collection is most likely the individual that the KFRS jaw was taken from; KFRS E.037A was a speared specimen and the photograph clearly shows a spear wound on the dorsal head. Whole specimens and associated genetic samples needed to confirm this species record. A destroyed specimen (KFRS E.320, adult male 649 mm TL, east of Negro Head, Milne Bay) was also identified as O. ornatus .