Pateobatis hortlei (Last, Manjaji-Matsumoto & Kailola, 2006)

Hortle’s Whipray

Himantura hortlei Last, Manjaji-Matsumoto & Kailola, 2006: 22, Figs 1 –7. Holotype: CSIRO H 5155-01. Type locality: Minajerwi River estuary, West Papua, Indonesia.

Local synonymy: Himantura nasuta - Filewood, 1973: 12 (PNG). “ Himantura nasuta ”— Kailola, 1987: 29 (Pai’ia Inlet, Gulf of Papua). Himantura hortlei— Last et al., 2006 (possibly PNG). Pateobatis hortlei— Last et al., 2016a: 601 (PNG); White et al., 2018: 252, figs (PNG).

PNG voucher specimens: (17 spec.) CSIRO H 7615-01, female 280 mm DW, south of Kerema, Gulf of Papua, 8°2’55.2” S, 145°43’30” E, 17 m depth, 20 Jun. 2014 ; CSIRO H 7616-01, juvenile male 220 mm DW, south of Kerema, Gulf of Papua, 8°1’26.4” S, 145°44’1.2” E, 14–15 m depth, 17 Jun. 2014 ; CSIRO H 7802-01, male 370 mm DW, south of Kerema, Gulf of Papua, 8°5’11.4” S, 145°47’10.8” E, 20 m depth, 11 Jun. 2014 ; CSIRO H 7814- 0 2, juvenile male 250 mm DW, CSIRO H 7814-03, juvenile male 290 mm DW, south of Deception Bay, Gulf of Papua, 7°58’52” S, 144°40’7” E, 22–23 m depth, 28 Nov. 2014 ; CSIRO H 8020-02, juvenile male 160 mm DW, east of Fly River mouth, Gulf of Papua, 8°34’22” S, 144°4’31” E, 9 m depth, 1 Apr. 2015 ; CSIRO H 8021-01, female 410 mm DW, east of Fly River mouth, Gulf of Papua, 8°39’21” S, 144°8’46” E, 11–17 m depth, 1 Apr. 2015 ; CSIRO H 8025-01, juvenile male 240 mm DW, south of Deception Bay, Gulf of Papua, 8°6’39” S, 144°25’45” E, 12–15 m depth, 5 Apr. 2015 ; KFRS E.642, female 300 mm DW, east of Fly River mouth, Gulf of Papua, 8°34’22” S, 144°4’31” E, 9 m depth, 1 Apr. 2015 ; KFRS E.646, juvenile male 290 mm DW, KFRS E.647, juvenile male 290 mm DW, KFRS E.648, juvenile male 250 mm DW, south of Deception Bay, Gulf of Papua, 7°58’52” S, 144°40’7” E, 22–23 m depth, 28 Nov. 2014 ; KFRS E.657, juvenile male 250 mm DW, south of Deception Bay, Gulf of Papua, 8°0’27” S, 144°35’37” E, 21–22 m depth, 30 Nov. 2014 ; KFRS E.677, juvenile male 250 mm DW, KFRS E.678, juvenile male 260 mm DW, south of Deception Bay, Gulf of Papua, 8°9’6” S, 144°26’25” E, 20–24 m depth, 5 Dec. 2014 ; KFRS E.734, juvenile male 230 mm DW, south of Kerema, Gulf of Papua, 8°2’22.2” S, 145°37’13.2” E, 15–16 m depth, 15 Jun. 2014 ; KFRS E.749, juvenile male 250 mm DW, south of Deception Bay, Gulf of Papua, 8°7’0” S, 144°29’ E, 18 m depth, 1 Dec. 2014 .

Remarks: First recorded from PNG by Filewood (1973) as Himantura nasuta . An unregistered specimen collected from West Papua in 1954–55 examined by the senior author during a visit to the RMNH collection in Leiden, Netherlands, had a handwritten label which read:

Himantura nasuta nov

L.W. Filewood det. July 1968

(The second known specimen!)

One of the destroyed KFRS specimens, E.292, collected from Pai’ia Inlet in July 1967 had the comment ‘holotype’ on the collection card, presumably the first specimen recorded for this species. Thus, Filewood appears to have intended to describe this species as new and call it Himantura nasuta, but no formal description was ever published. Common in the bycatch of the Gulf of Papua prawn trawl fishery. One specimen observed in the bycatch of the trap fishery in Wewak on the north coast, suggesting a wider distribution around mainland New Guinea. Previously placed in the genus Himantura .