Dasyatis chrysonota ( Smith, 1828 )

Ebert, David A., Wintner, Sabine P. & Kyne, Peter M., 2021, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of South Africa, Zootaxa 4947 (1), pp. 1-127 : 91-92

Dasyatis chrysonota ( Smith, 1828)

Blue Stingray

Trygon chrysonota Smith [A.], 1828 : 2. Neotype: SAM 31697 (designated by Cowley & Compagno, 1993: 145). Type locality: Off Gamtoos River , Eastern Cape, South Africa, Western Indian Ocean.

Local synonymy: Trygon chrysonota : Smith [A.], 1828: 2. Trygon pastinaca : Bleeker, 1860b: 58; G̹nther, 1870: 478; Gilchrist, 1902: 168; Norman, 1922: 320. Dasyatis pastinaca : Thompson, 1914: 162. Dasybatus pastinaca : von Bonde & Swart, 1923: 16; Barnard, 1925: 77, fig. 8, pl. 4; von Bonde, 1932: 32; Barnard, 1959: 27, fig. 3, pl. 4. Dasyatis pastinacus: Fowler, 1941: 420 ; Smith, 1949a: 70, pl. 4; Smith, 1961a: 70, pl. 4; Smith, 1965: 70, pl. 4; Wallace, 1967c: 34, figs. 16–17; Compagno & Heemstra, 1984: 4; Compagno, 1986: 137, fig. 30.3, pl. 6. Dasyatis marmorata: Compagno et al., 1989: 102 , pl. Dasyatis chrysonota: Cowley & Compagno, 1993: 145 , fig. 1 (Neotype); Compagno, 1999: 117; Heemstra & Heemstra, 2004: 82; Mann, 2013: 53; NPOA, 2013: 60; da Silva et al., 2015: 246; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 147; Last et al., 2016h: 355; Last et al., 2016i: 537, fig. 25.8; Weigmann, 2016: 965.

South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 7192, SAIAB 7845, SAIAB 7865, SAIAB 8272, SAIAB 12110, SAIAB 12830, SAIAB 12845, SAIAB 19860, SAIAB 19900, SAIAB 31825, SAIAB 31826, SAIAB 41546, SAIAB 44321, SAIAB 44348, SAIAB 44349, SAIAB 54206, SAIAB 67752.

South African distribution: Along the entire coast from the Orange River (NC) to the northern KZN border with Mozambique.

Remarks: The taxonomic status of this species was usually referred to as D. pastinaca until the issue was examined by Cowley & Compagno (1993) who found that Andrew Smith (1828) had described it in the same article he also described the Whale Shark ( Rhincodon typus ). Cowley & Compagno (1993) provide a detailed discussion of the taxonomic history of this species.

Conservation status: NT (2020).