Short Description
Original diagnose after LAST & ALAVA, 2013 [20021]: A medium-sized species of the genus Dipturus (to almost 90 cm TL) with two parallel rows of posterolaterally directed thorns along its posterior median disc. It is also distinguishable from its congeners by the following combination of characters: disc relatively broad with angular apices, width 67–72% TL, 1.2 times its length; snout angle 73–76°; tail length sexually dimorphic, in females 0.7, in males 0.8–0.9 in distance from snout tip to rear of cloaca; tail relatively slender, width 1.2–1.6 times height at its midlength, 1.2–1.7 times at first dorsal-fin origin; pre-upper jaw length 18–24% TL, 2.2–3.0 times internasal width; ventral head length 33–38% TL; preorbital snout length 3.5–4.2 times interorbital width; orbit diameter 52–74% interorbital width; first dorsal-fin height 1.7–2.1 in its base length; distance from first dorsal-fin origin to tail tip 3.5–4.0 times first dorsal-fin base length, 3.1–4.0 times caudal-fin length; pelvic fins of medium size, length of posterior lobe 16–17% TL, length of anterior lobe 74–75% of posterior lobe in large males; adult clasper elongate 23–25% TL; anterior margins of both surfaces of disc with bands of fine denticles; 1-2 scapular thorns on each side of disc (rarely paired); row of prescapular thorns; no malar thorns in single adult male; tail with a single median thorn row in males and a few lateral thorns near its base, median row and additional pair of variably developed lateral rows in females; total pectoral radials 83–85; trunk centra 25–32; predorsal centra 77–83; total centra about 137–140; tooth rows in upper jaw 28–33, in lower jaw 33; mainly brownish dorsally, slightly paler brownish and more blotchy ventrally; ventral sensory pores small, distinct, black-edged, not surrounded by greyish blotches.

Distribution
Philippines [20021];

Size / Weight / Age
max. length female: 897 mm TL (measured fresh); male: 657 mm TL [20021];

Habitat
marine; probably from deep slopes of the Sulu Sea and adjacent waterways [20021];

Dentition
Teeth of adult male paratype (CSIRO H 7416–01) strongly unicuspid (much less so in late adolescent male holotype), with subcircular to rhomboidal bases; arranged in longitudinal rows rather than in quincunx; medial cusps long, subconical, bluntly pointed, posteriorly and lingually directed in upper jaw; cusps much shorter and more oblique laterally; teeth of primary female paratype (SUML MMLM 018) with broadly suboval bases and relatively broad-based, blunt subtriangular cusps (most pronounced near jaw symphysis), arranged in defined rows [20021];

Remarks
shark-references Species-ID=13816;