Himantura leoparda Manjaji-Matsumoto & Last, 2008 Leopard Whipray Himantura leoparda Manjaji-Matsumoto & Last, 2008: 294, figs. 1–4. Holotype: CSIRO H 2903-01. Type locality: Northwest of Weipa, Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, Australia, 12°08'S, 139°58'E, Local synonymy: Trygon uarnak: Bleeker, 1860b: 58 (in part); Gilchrist, 1902: 169 (in part). Dasybatus uarnak: Regan, 1908a: 242 (in part); von Bonde & Swart, 1923: 16 (in part); Barnard, 1925: 76: Barnard, 1959: 27. Dasyatis uarnak (non Gmelin, 1789): Thompson, 1914: 163 (in part); Gilchrist & Thompson, 1916: 287 (in part); Fowler, 1934b: 409 (in part); Fowler, 1935: 364 (in part); Fowler, 1941: 405 (in part); Smith, 1949a: 70, pl. 4 (in part); Smith, 1961a: 70, pl. 4 (in part); Smith, 1965: 70, pl. 4 (in part); Wallace, 1967c: 44, fig. 22 (figure is H. leoparda). Himantura uarnak (non Gmelin, 1789): Compagno, 1986: 139, fig. 30.10 (in part); Compagno et al., 1989: 108, pl. (in part); Compagno, 1999: 117 (in part); da Silva et al., 2015: 246 (in part). Himantura leoparda: Manjaji-Matsumoto & Last, 2008: 294, figs. 1–4; da Silva et al., 2015: 246 (in part); Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 147; Last et al., 2016h: 361; Last et al., 2016i: 562, fig. 25.33; Weigmann, 2016: 972. South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 11155 [ex ORI 581], SAIAB 11156 [ex ORI B582], SAIAB 16426, SAIAB 80368, SAIAB 201755. South African distribution: East London (EC) to the KZN border with Mozambique. Remarks: Most publications and records of a large, reticulated patterned stingray species from KZN previously referred to Himatura uarnak are now known to be the relatively recently described H. leoparda, which is the most common large Himantura species in KZN. Its close relative H. uarnak does occur on occasion, but is far less common. South African specimens in museum collections should be re-examined to verify their identification. For expediency a list of specimens accessioned as both H. leoparda and H. uarnak are listed here. Conservation status: VU (2016).

Published as part of Ebert, David A., Wintner, Sabine P. & Kyne, Peter M., 2021, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of South Africa, pp. 1-127 in Zootaxa 4947 (1) on page 92, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4947.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4614567