However, recent morphological and molecular analyses have conclusively showed that they represent a distinct group and so the genus Neotrygon was resurrected for them.

The mouth is small with two central papillae and a row of enlarged, long-cusped teeth halfway along the upper jaw on both sides.

The tail is very short with well-developed dorsal and ventral fin folds and a filamentous tip, and is banded black and white past the stinging spine.

In addition, Neotrygon species also differ from other stingrays in their buccal and skeletal morphology,[2][3] as well as in the CO1 and NADH2 gene sequences.

[12] To test this hypothesis would require the comparison of maskray specimens from Vanikoro and the Coral Sea using genetic markers.