Bathytoshia brevicaudata (Hutton, 1875)

Shorttail Stingray

Trygon brevicaudata Hutton, 1875: 317 . Holotype (unique): OM A.75.02 (stuffed). Type locality: Dunedin Harbor, New Zealand.

Local synonymy: Trygon schreineri: Gilchrist, 1913: 33, fig. (original description, holotype SAM 16053, caught off rocks at St James in False Bay, South Africa). Dasybatis schreineri: von Bonde & Swart, 1923: 16; Barnard, 1925: 76; Smith, 1949a: 70; Barnard, 1959: 27. Dasyatis brevicaudatus: Smith, 1949a: 70, fig. 81; Smith, 1961a: 70, fig. 81; Smith, 1965: 70, fig. 81; Wallace, 1967c: 37, figs. 18–19; Compagno & Heemstra, 1984: 3; Compagno, 1999: 117; NPOA, 2013: 60. Dasyatis brevicaudata: Compagno, 1986: 136, fig. 30.1; Compagno et al., 1989: 102, pl; da Silva et al., 2015: 246; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 147; Weigmann, 2016: 964. Bathytoshia brevicaudata: Last et al., 2016h: 354; Last et al., 2016i: 530, fig. 25.1.

South Africa voucher material: Holotype: SAM 16053. Non-types: SAIAB 7866 [ex ORI B805], SAIAB 26469, SAIAB 26470, SAIAB 27444.

South African distribution: Saldanha Bay, west coast (WC) to Kosi Bay, northern KZN.

Remarks: The first record of this species from South African waters was caught by an angler and described by Gilchrist (1913) as a new species ( Trygon schreineri). However, Wallace (1967c) examined additional specimens from South Africa and compared them with New Zealand specimens and concluded that they were the same species and that Trygon schreineri (= D. brevicaudata) should be relegated to junior synonym status.

Conservation status: LC (2016).