Greek subspecies ID please?

[biochemnerd808]

Our local reptile rescue (International Reptile Rescue) has asked me to rehab a little Greek tortoise that was relinquished to them this week. He doesn't seem to be in terrible shape, though he feels very light. He has nice bright eyes, and dry nares... and he enjoyed a good long soak and chowed down on the fresh weeds I offered right away. Off to a good start! He'll only be with me for a few weeks to fatten up a little.

I was hoping that one (or several) of the more experienced Greek keepers/breeders would mind helping me identify the subspecies. This has a dual purpose: a) quelling my curiosity and b) helping the rescue place him with a group of his subspecies in the long run. (@GBtortoises @Tim/Robin @TylerStewart @Tom , @HermanniChris )

IRR has given me permission to post a few pictures I took of him here. I tried to catch him from all pertinent angles. Please excuse the remnants of pink and blue paint on his shell - he came with that, and it will take a bit more scrubbing to remove.

The pictures were taken with flash - in normal daylight there is less yellow/brown in the shell, and more hues of gray/black. He is small-ish at 482g, but definitely male.

 

[Tim/Robin]

I will post here so others can see and chime in, I think it is a T g buxtoni. How do you find them? ;-)

 

[HermanniChris]

T. g. buxtoni like Tim said. there's a good amount of these floating around but sadly, people aren't sure what they actually have and they're getting mixed with other graeca...

 

[Jlant85]

Beautiful Buxtoni katie! I had a buxtoni! I have him to my nephews to care for! I wanted to breed Buxtoni but couldnt find a female >.<

 

[tglazie]

Jlant85, I share in your pain of being unable to find a compatible Greek female for my male. The amount of variation in Greek tortoises is astounding, so much so that I wish Linnaeus and those that followed him didn't classify them all as Greek tortoises. That name is so confusing, given that only a small group of these animals actually occurs west of the Hellespont in the country we know as Greece. I mean, I understand that he named them after Greek vases, and that's awesome, but I just find it a little ridiculous that every tortoise from Spain to Morocco, Algeria to Libya, from Israel to Bulgaria, from Jordan to Syria, is called a Greek tortoise, especially when you see the gigantic difference between the tiny Tunisian form and the titanic Bulgarian form. I mean, you could say the same for redfoots, or hingebacks, or leopards, or Hermanns (eastern and western)... well, let's face it, there's a lot of confusing taxonomy and incredible variation when it comes to tortoises. But Testudo graeca has got to be, for me, the most perplexing.

As it concerns the buxtoni, I had a question. Is the low dome of the carapace characteristic of the buxtoni, or is this factor worthy of little consideration. Are the characteristics more subtle than this?

T.G.

 

[biochemnerd808]

Thank you, @Tim/Robin and @HermanniChris .

Luckily, I have a friend here in town (@caligull ) who has a female buxtoni, as well as a baby buxtoni hatched by Tim... she is going to take a look at this fella to see if he would be a good fit for her little group.