Tawny Shark
Scyllium ferrugineum Lesson, 1831: 95. Syntypes whereabouts unknown. Type locality: Port Praslin [= Lambom], New Ireland; Offack Bay, Waigeo, Indonesia.
Local synonymy: Scyllium ferrugineum Lesson, 1831: 95 (Port Praslin, New Ireland). Ginglymostoma concolor— Macleay, 1883a: 597 (New Guinea). Ginglymostoma mulleri— Günther, 1910: 487 (Port Praslin, New Ireland). Ginglymostoma ferrugineum— Fowler, 1934: 385 (Port Moresby); Munro, 1967: 5, pl. 1, fig. 3 (New Guinea). Nebrius ferrugineum— Munro, 1958: 111 (Milne Bay; Otua Island, Bougainville; Tami Island, Morobe Province); Hamilton et al., 2009: 73 (northern Bismarck Archipelago). Nebrius ferrugineus— Filewood, 1973: 9 (Papua New Guinea); Compagno, 1984: 208 (PNG); Compagno, 2001: 196 (PNG); Allen et al., 2003: 112 (Milne Bay); Last & Stevens, 2009: 151 (PNG); White et al., 2018: 78, figs (PNG).
PNG voucher material: (5 spec.) CSIRO C 1125, juvenile male 478 mm TL, CSIRO C 1126, juvenile male 440 mm TL, Cannac Island, Laughlan Island Group, Milne Bay, 9°18’ S, 153°35’ E, 15 Feb. 1950; KFRS E.001 (dried jaws), 2515 mm TL, Mission Point, Yule Island, 13 Nov. 1963; USNM 221733, female 670 mm TL, Kuia Island, Trobriand Islands, Milne Bay Province, Jun. 1970; NMV A 18927, juvenile male 690 mm TL, between Port Moresby and Kapa Kapa, Central Province, May 1881.
Remarks: First recorded in PNG by Lesson (1831) off Port Praslin [=Lambom] in New Ireland; this record and one from off Waigeo were used for the original description of this species. No specimens caught during recent surveys but images of a large specimen from the Gulf of Papua was taken by fisheries observers; also an underwater photograph from Kavieng, New Ireland by Dean Tully.