Maculabatis toshi (Whitley, 1939b)

Brown Whipray

Himantura toshi Whitley, 1939b: 258 . Holotype: AMS IA.39. Type locality: Clarence River Estuary, New South Wales, Australia.

Local synonymy: Himantura (?) gerrardi— Filewood, 1973: 12 (PNG). Maculabatis toshi— Last et al., 2016a: 581 (southern PNG); White et al., 2018: 234, figs (PNG).

PNG voucher material: (1 spec.) KFRS E.683 (head only), female 820 mm DW, Daru fish market, Daru, Western Province, 23 Oct. 2014.

Remarks: First recorded from PNG by Filewood (1973) as Himantura (?) gerrardi; the characters provided in Filewood’s key includes “colour pattern of few pale-centred spots far apart, sometimes also irregular white splashes, tail usually strikingly banded” which matches the adult colour pattern of M. toshi . Possibly conspecific with M. astra . Appears to be more restricted to inshore muddy areas. Previously placed in the genus Himantura .