Parmaturus Garman

Bernard Séret & Peter R. Last, 2007, Four new species of deep-water catsharks of the genus Parmaturus (Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae) from New Caledonia, Indonesia and Australia., Zootaxa 1657, pp. 23-39 : 23-24

[[ Genus Parmaturus Garman ]]

Five nominal species are presently assigned to this group and three of them occur in the Indo-Pacific: P. melanobranchus (Chan, 1966) and P. pilosus Garman, 1906 from China and Japan, and P. macmillani Hardy, 1985 from New Zealand and south of Madagascar (Compagno et al., 2005). However, the status and composition of Parmaturus , as well as the scyliorhinid genera Galeus Rafinesque and Halaelurus Gill , have been questioned because of the intrageneric variability of some diagnostic features, such as the presence or absence of a crest of enlarged denticles on the upper caudal lobe (Garman, 1913; Springer, 1979; Séret, 1987; Compagno, 1988; Compagno and Stevens, 1993).

Garman (1906) defined the genus Parmaturus for his new species P. pilosus with the following set of characters: anal and subcaudal long, snout short and thick, nostrils near mouth, supracaudal crest of denticles, first dorsal fin above pelvic fins and second dorsal fin above anal fin. In comparing the diagnostic features of Halaelurus and Parmaturus as listed by Compagno (1984), it appears that few characters separate the two genera: body firm and thick-skinned in Halaelurus versus body soft and flabby in Parmaturus ; head moderately to considerably depressed versus head slightly depressed; subocular ridges broad versus narrow; claspers rather slender versus rather robust; and no crest of denticles on the caudal margins versus a well-developed crest of denticles on the dorsal caudal margin and sometimes on the preventral caudal margin. Of these, the most useful diagnostic features appear to be the consistency of the body (firm or soft) and the presence/ absence of a supracaudal crests of enlarged denticles.

A revision of the genus Parmaturus and related genera is needed. However the New Caledonian, Indonesian and Australian species herein described are tentatively assigned to this genus on the basis of the following features: soft-bodied, deep-water scyliorhinid catsharks with velvety skin, a crest of enlarged denticles usually present but sometimes rudimentary on upper caudal margin (also often on the ventral caudal margin), relatively small pectoral fins, well developed dorsal fins, the first dorsal about opposite to the pelvic fin, the second dorsal about opposite to the anal, a large anal fin, and a simple, mostly uniform coloration.