Australian Sawtail Catshark - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

Australian ichthyologist Gilbert Percy Whitley originally described the Australian sawtail catshark as Pristiurus boardmani, in a 1928 issue of the scientific journal Records of the Australian Museum, and placed it within his newly created subgenus Figaro. Whitley named the species after his friend and colleague William Boardman, who collected the first known specimens, including the holotype: a 54 cm (21 in) long adult male trawled by the Bar-ea-mul on 18 July 1925, northeast of Montague Island off New South Wales. Another common name for this species is banded shark.

Both Pristiurus and Figaro have generally been considered junior synonyms of the genus Galeus; in 2008, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) researchers Daniel Gledhill, Peter Last, and William White resurrected Figaro, with F. boardmani as the type species. Whitley regarded sharks from the Great Australian Bight as representing a distinct subspecies, F. b. socinus, which has not been recognized by subsequent authors. However, individuals from different portions of its range do exihibit minor differences in morphology and coloration, which merit further study.