Neotrygon cf. trigonoides

Papuan Maskray

Local synonymy: Trygon kuhlii —Peters, 1877: 853 (New Ireland); Ogilby, 1888: 19 (southeastern New Guinea). Dasyatis kuhlii – Fowler, 1934: 386 (Port Moresby); Fowler, 1941: 427 (New Guinea); Gochfeld, 1996: 43 (southern New Ireland); Allen, 1998: 67 (Milne Bay); Allen et al., 2003: 112 (Milne Bay); Baine & Harasti, 2007: 93, fig. (Bootless Bay); Hamilton et al., 2009: 73 (northern Bismarck Archipelago); Drew et al., 2012: 5 (Bootless Bay). Amphotistius kuhlii— Munro, 1958: 114 (New Guinea); Kailola, 1987: 28 (PNG). Amphotistius kuhli— Munro, 1967: 15, pl. 2, fig. 20 (New Guinea). Neotrygon kuhldi— Filewood, 1973 (in part): 13 (PNG; misspelling of kuhlii). Neotrygon cf. trigonoides— White et al., 2018: 244, figs (PNG).

PNG voucher material: (9 spec.) CSIRO C 850, juvenile male 151 mm DW, Haidana Island, Port Moresby, 24 Jul. 1948 ; CSIRO H 8100-01, female 275 mm DW, Motupure Island, Bootless Bay, Port Moresby, 9°31’19” S, 147°17’2” E, <1 m depth, 15 Sep. 2016 ; KFRS E.057, female 137 mm DW, Laing Island, Madang, 16 Jul. 1965 ; KFRS E.491, juvenile male 149 mm DW, Pot Island, Siassi, Umboi Islands, Morobe Province, 27 Jan. 1968 ; KFRS E.526 (2 spec.), adolescent male 243 mm DW, adult male 281 mm DW, no collection data; KFRS E.793, female 219 mm DW, KFRS E.794, female 260 mm DW, no labels, new registration number allocated April 2017, no data; ZMB 9721, adolescent male 261 mm DW, Carteret Islands, New Ireland, 1874–1875 [probably mid-1875, SMS Gazelle survey].

Remarks: First recorded from PNG by Peters (1877) from Carteret Islands, New Ireland (ZMB 9721). Colour pattern and morphology aligns most closely to Neotrygon trigonoides (Castelnau, 1873) but probably not conspecific; specimens from throughout PNG are required to determine whether more than one species is involved.