Holohalaelurus Fowler

Brett A. Human, 2006, A taxonomic revision of the catshark genus Holohalaelurus Fowler 1934 (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae), with descriptions of two new species., Zootaxa 1315, pp. 1-56 : 2

publication ID

z01315p001

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CC3F45EE-BE90-4A08-8841-A43AE8B72E65

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6260807

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/8AF2258B-07C7-B629-F279-A1F341C0E7F9

treatment provided by

Thomas

scientific name

Holohalaelurus Fowler
status

 

[[ Genus Holohalaelurus Fowler View in CoL View at ENA   ZBK ]]

The genus Holohalaelurus   ZBK is an obscure group of catsharks endemic to deeper waters off southern and eastern Africa, and range from the temperate southeastern Atlantic Ocean, into the tropical western Indian Ocean. Prior to this revision, it was commonly accepted that there were two valid species of Holohalaelurus   ZBK , H. punctatus (Gilchrist 1914) and H. regani (Gilchrist 1922) , two synonyms, H. polystigma (Regan 1921) and H. melanostigma Norman 1939 , and that a species complex involving both of the valid species existed in the tropical west Indian Ocean.

The literature referring to Holohalaelurus   ZBK is largely restricted to taxonomic descriptions of Holohalaelurus   ZBK species, and basic revisions as part of larger scale works at the familial, ordinal, or class level. The exception to this is the literature available for H. regani , which is an abundant species, endemic to southern Africa, and regularly caught in demersal fishing trawls off South Africa and Namibia (Compagno & Smale, 1989; Compagno et al., 1991; Richardson et al., 2000).

Original descriptions of all the nominal species of Holohalaelurus   ZBK are brief and insufficient to discriminate between the species due to the morphological conservation within the genus. The lack of detailed species descriptions, and species complexes referred to in the literature occurring along the east coast of Africa, made a revision of this genus necessary. This account is the first revisionary work dedicated to the genus Holohalaelurus   ZBK .

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