SPECIES DIVERSITY, ECOLOGY, AND DISTRIBUTION
The epaulette1 sharks in the genus Hemiscyllium (Müller & Henle,
1838) comprise a group of nine species restricted to northern
Australia and New Guinea and a few of its satellite islands
(including Halmahera, Aru, and the Raja Ampat Archipelago;
Allen et al., 2016). Together with the seven Indo-Pacific species
of bamboo shark in the genus Chiloscyllium Müller and Henle
1838, they comprise the family Hemiscyllidae in the carpetshark
order Orectolobiformes. Members of the genus Hemiscyllium are
small (usually less than 85 cm total length, TL, and frequently less
than 70 cm TL) and are characterised by nasoral and perioral
grooves, short nasal barbels, a small transverse mouth below the
eyes, two similar-sized dorsal fins, and a long slender tail.
Previous reviews of the genus by Dingerkus and DeFino (1983)
and Compagno (2001) recognised only five species (The
Raja Ampat Epaulette Shark [H. freycineti], Papuan Epaulette
Carpetshark [H. hallstromi], Epaulette Shark [H. ocellatum],
Hooded Carpet Shark [H. strahani], and Speckled Carpetshark,
[H. trispeculare]) with overlapping ranges across northern
Australia and the reefs surrounding the island of New Guinea.
However, research efforts have led to the description of four
additional species (Gale's Epaulette Shark [H. galei] Allen &
Erdmann, 2008, Halmahera Epaulette Shark [H. halmahera]
Allen, Erdmann & Dudgeon, 2013, Henry's Epaulette Shark [H.
henryi] Allen & Erdmann, 2008, and Michael's Epaulette Shark
[H. michaeli] Allen & Dudgeon, 2010) and a more nuanced
understanding of the highly restricted and non-overlapping
distributions of the nine species.