Mobula alfredi (Krefft, 1868)

Reef Manta

Deratoptera alfredi Krefft, 1868: 3, 9, Fig. Holotype: AMS I.1731 (stuffed and painted). Type locality: Watson’s Bay at entrance to Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia.

Local synonymy: Manta birostris— Munro, 1967 (in part): 15, pl. 2, fig. 18 (New Guinea); Filewood, 1973 (in part): 14 (PNG); Allen, 1998: 67 (Milne Bay); Allen et al., 2003: 112 (Milne Bay); Baine & Harasti, 2007: 93 (Bootless Bay); Hamilton et al., 2009: 73 (northern Bismarck Archipelago); Drew et al., 2012: 5 (Bootless Bay). Mobula alfredi— White et al., 2018: 284, figs (PNG).

PNG voucher material: None.

Remarks: Previously considered to be a junior synonym of M. birostris . Previously placed in the genus Manta, recently found to be a junior synonym of Mobula (White et al., 2017b) . Occasionally observed by divers throughout PNG; one individual recorded from the bycatch of the Gulf of Papua prawn trawl fishery during recent surveys.