 Based on morphological similarities, "Nebrius" is believed to be the sister genus of "Ginglymostoma", with both being placed in a clade that also contains the short-tail nurse shark ("Pseudoginglymostoma brevicaudatum"), the whale shark ("Rhincodon typus"), and the zebra shark ("Stegostoma fasciatum").The tawny nurse shark is widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific region.In the Indian Ocean, it is found from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa northward to the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and India, including Madagascar, Mauritius, the Chagos Archipelago, the Seychelles, and the Maldives.