Johannes Peter Müller
German biologists Johannes Peter Müller and Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle described the Bennett's stingray as "Trygon bennettii" in their 1839–1841 "Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen". They referenced three specimens as the species syntypes: only the one from China remains, while another from Trinidad and a third of unknown provenance have been lost. Later authors synonymized the genus "Trygon" with "Dasyatis".