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New species of sharks and rays from Borneo

Recent publications from CSIRO have described the Chondrichthyes (sharks and rays) of Borneo. Several new species described for the first time were discovered by the Darwin Sabah Elasmobranch Biodiversity Project which ran from 1995 to 1999.

The publications include a new field guide - First definitive guide to Borneo's sharks and rays - and a detailed taxonomic report which is available to download from CSIRO - Descriptions of new sharks and rays from Borneo.

"This sequence of taxonomic papers is the consequence of two major surveys of the chondrichthyan fauna of Borneo. In 1996, the first major investigation of the sharks and rays of Sabah was initiated through funding from the UK Darwin Foundation. This project addressed questions relating to the biodiversity, fisheries impact, biology, and conservation status of the coastal marine and freshwater elasmobranch fauna, and resulted in the compilation of the first checklist of chondrichthyans of greater Borneo. The Darwin survey also provided the impetus for a larger survey in the last decade of fish markets of the island, incorporating both Malaysian Borneo and Indonesian Borneo. This comprehensive survey, made possible by the financial support of the National Science Foundation (grants NSF BS&I Nos. DEB 0103640, DEB 0542941, DEB 0542846), and parallel surveys of the chondrichthyan faunas of the Philippines and eastern Indonesia, unearthed several taxonomic problems that needed resolving, particularly involving cryptic speciation and nomenclature. The main objective of this special taxonomic publication is to document updated names for some of the species that were once considered widespread in the Indo-Pacific, but which are now known to have more restricted distributions. Seven new species are formally described, three species are resurrected, and two other poorly known species are redescribed in 11 separate papers. These names will be used in the soon to be published guide to the chondrichthyans of Borneo, ‘Sharks and rays of Borneo' (in press)."

The new species from Sabah are:

Orectolobus leptolineatus sp. nov. Indonesian Wobbegong

Orectolobus leptolineatus sp. nov., adult male holotype (MZB 18623, 887 mm TL, preserved): A. lateral view; B. dorsal view; C. ventral view of head.

"In 1996, the skin of an unidentifiable wobbegong with a strikingly reticulate colour pattern was collected during a survey of the elasmobranchs of Borneo, funded by the British Darwin Foundation."

Glyphis fowlerae sp. nov. Borneo River Shark

Juvenile female holotype of Glyphis fowlerae sp. nov. (IPMB 38.14.02, 577 mm TL, fresh): A. lateral view; B. anterior ventral view.

"Described from 14 type specimens from Malaysian Borneo, including 13 specimens collected in freshwater from the vicinity of Kampung Abai in the lower reaches of the Kinabatangan River, Sabah."

This is the rediscovery of an undescribed species known from one specimen collected over a century ago, stuffed and deposited in the BMNH, now lost. This species was the stimulus for developing the original project proposal, after it was learned that Kinabatangan villagers occasionally caught sharks in freshwater.

This species was initially to be named Glyphis kinabatanganensis, but apparently the name was considered to be too long, and the taxonomists decided to name it instead after the leader of the Darwin project that rediscovered the species!

Pastinachus gracilicaudus sp. nov. Narrowtail Stingray

Pastinachus gracilicaudus sp. nov., juvenile male holotype (SMEC 35, 364 mm DW, preserved): dorsal surface.

"Holotype. SMEC 35 (previous field no. BKK 35), immature male 364 mm DW, Kota Kinabalu fish market, Sabah, Malaysia, 19 Apr. 1996.)"

"This species, first identified during the Darwin Foundation survey of the elasmobranchs of Sabah, has an unusually low, pale ventral cutaneous fold on the tail and matures at a much smaller size than either P. sephen or P. atrus."

Other species that were first collected during the Darwin project have already been described elsewhere, including Mustelus widodoi, Himantura leoparda, Pastinachus solocirostris, and Dasyatis parvonigra, all of which are included in the Borneo field guide.

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