The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the roughnose stingray as Endangered; it is threatened by overfishing and the destruction and degradation of its mangrove habitat.

Peter Last, B. Mabel Manjaji, and Gordon Yearsley described the roughnose stingray in a 2005 paper for the scientific journal Zootaxa, giving it the specific epithet solocirostris from the Latin solocis ("rough" or "bristly") and rostrum ("snout").

[2] The roughnose stingray is found along the western coast of Borneo, off the Sarawak, Brunei, and the extreme southwestern corner of Sabah, as well as off northeastern Sumatra.

[2] This bottom-dwelling species seems to be restricted to turbid coastal waters and mangrove estuaries, particularly where there is high freshwater outflow from rivers.

[1][2] The pectoral fin disc of the roughnose stingray is slightly wider than long, diamond-shaped, and rounded on the outer corners.

The upper surface of the disc is densely covered by dermal denticles almost to the margins; a transverse row of 1–3 enlarged thorns, with the central one the largest and pearl-like, is present in the middle of the back.

The dorsal coloration is plain olive to brown, becoming pinkish towards the disc margins and on the pelvic fins, and darkening to almost black towards the tip of the tail.