I think I have a scientific discovery

enchilada

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 3, 2014
Messages
789
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Beach CA
Ok I’m not sure if this is a stupid or genius discovery, but I do find it interesting
that all tortoise species that has radiant/ star shaped geometric shell pattern are from areas surrounding Indian Ocean.
Genus : Psammobates
C5A25DE1-8934-4844-A4B8-34D6D63D2D68.jpeg1C622E18-D6BF-43E7-9FAB-78BCA688A3AF.png
Genus :Geochelone
Indian/Sri Lanka/Burmese star tortoise
.C044F4CC-6DCD-4ECC-B573-5CE962DF5FD7.jpeg99F3A05B-B97D-4F4D-A24F-E35FA8237EBC.jpeg



127C10C6-98BD-4FFA-AC66-9D178A35222B.jpeg55E0ACCD-EC22-4198-867A-CAC3548DCEF4.jpeg

Radiata
2A0A4C92-C6AB-46AA-AC28-ECC9D15B954A.jpeg0D9F45A0-6F50-4DB1-BEF8-BBEF85D9F87D.jpeg

pancake tortoise
0EF24B6C-1AE6-4BBF-B2B9-5D91AB3DC9E2.jpeg8EB11EAC-CE97-4042-BDD2-AEEEF868435D.png
kinixys zombensis
DC05F9DE-02B5-493F-B0C3-0A98260E8F8F.jpeg71FE48AC-4C83-48C7-8724-3862A1264898.jpeg
 

enchilada

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 3, 2014
Messages
789
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Beach CA
So I put together this map Myself
Yellow-- Psammobates
Blue--- kinixys zombensis
purple--Pancake
Red--Radiata
White--Indian Star
Pink---Sri Lanka Star
Greem--Burmese Star

9B607B5B-90A4-4AAF-BCF9-AB5027201D68.jpeg
 

enchilada

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 3, 2014
Messages
789
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Beach CA
Initially i thought this similarity must have something to do with the climate , but climate in Southern South Africa would be a lot different from Burma. And some areas in the Americas have similar climates but no tortoise there has geometric pattern ?

They are from 5 different genus, so probably not from a common ancestor?

well maybe their patterns are just coincidence and I'm drinking too much????
 

pawsplus

Active Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2020
Messages
226
Location (City and/or State)
Nashville, TN
Pretty sure it's because they are all related back in the fossil record. When the one large land mass that used to exist split apart, some went to Africa and some stayed in SE Asia, and then evolved from there. :)
 

Relic

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2018
Messages
538
Location (City and/or State)
Here
I say do mouth-swabs of all the suspected tortoise species presented here, send the swabs off to Ancestry.com and let them do the DNA work for you. They will even generate a cute little map showing where the ancestors came from...
 

enchilada

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 3, 2014
Messages
789
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Beach CA
My theory is : their common ancestor appeared around 100 mya in east coast Africa when South America separated . Then they crossed the channel to India/Madagascar . After that India hits Asia then they spread to Southeast Asia .
 

zovick

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Nov 17, 2013
Messages
3,387
My theory is : their common ancestor appeared around 100 mya in east coast Africa when South America separated . Then they crossed the channel to India/Madagascar . After that India hits Asia then they spread to Southeast Asia .
It sounds quite plausible.
 

turtlesteve

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Sep 23, 2012
Messages
711
My theory is : their common ancestor appeared around 100 mya in east coast Africa when South America separated . Then they crossed the channel to India/Madagascar . After that India hits Asia then they spread to Southeast Asia .

This sounds nice but it’s contradictory to genetic studies. It seems as though this patterning has evolved separately for many different species.

19E14C4F-C2D7-48DB-9DF9-3117C0BC08B3.gif

It seems camouflage based, so I would hypothesize an adaptation to match specific (grassy?) habitats or to trick some particular types of predators.

Note also that Florida and ornate box turtles have the same patterning...
 

enchilada

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 3, 2014
Messages
789
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Beach CA
This sounds nice but it’s contradictory to genetic studies. It seems as though this patterning has evolved separately for many different species.

View attachment 307209

It seems camouflage based, so I would hypothesize an adaptation to match specific (grassy?) habitats or to trick some particular types of predators.

Note also that Florida and ornate box turtles have the same patterning...
Convergent evolution maybe ?
but Gopherus tortoise overlaps with Florida $ornate box turtle , yet they have no patterned shell . Or maybe gopherus are like sulcatas , they dig tunnels and stay inside, thus doesn’t need camouflage
 

New Posts

Top