Mobula alfredi (Krefft, 1868)

Reef Manta Ray

Deratoptera alfredi Krefft, 1868: 3–9, fig. Holotype: AMS I.1731 (stuffed). Type locality: Watson Bay, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Local synonymy: Manta alfredi: Marshall et al., 2009: 13, figs. 9–14; Ebert & Dando, 2014: 97, fig.; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 148; Weigmann, 2016: 981. Mobula alfredi: White & Last, 2016c: 742, fig. 33.1; Stevens et al., 2018: 70, figs.

South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 7885.

South African distribution: Durban (KZN) and north to the Mozambique border.

Remarks: Formerly in the genus Manta, White et al. (2018), using morphological and molecular data, concluded that there was no significant difference between the genera Manta and Mobula . Since Mobula is the older name and takes precendence, the two recognized species formerly in the genus Manta were reassigned to the genus Mobula (White et al., 2018) . Marshall et al. (2009) resurrected Mobula (= Manta) alfredi as distinct from Mobula birostris . Prior to this species being resurrected, the name M. birostris was widely used throughout the WIO, with historical records likely including both species.

Conservation status: VU (2019).