 Jack Garrick, in his 1982 morphological study, did not place it close to any other member of the genus.Leonard Compagno in 1988 tentatively grouped it with the smalltail shark ("C. porosus"), blackspot shark ("C. sealei"), spottail shark ("C. sorrah"), creek whaler ("C. fitzroyensis"), whitecheek shark ("C. dussumieri"), hardnose shark ("C. macloti"), and Pondicherry shark ("C. hemiodon").The Borneo shark resembles the sharpnose sharks ("Rhizoprionodon") in certain traits, for example the enlarged pores by its mouth.