interesting read

[terryo]

I saw this on another forum and thought it was interesting.
http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2008/10/gilbert_whites_pet_tortoise.php#more

 

[egyptiandan]

Oooooooooooo my favorite subject. A very good read, thanks Terry

Danny

 

[Marla]

Thanks Terry that was good and a lot of info to remember...Russians and Hermann getting their own branch on the tree of life..If I read it correctly thats what I thought he said...Russains I can see but Herman's and Greeks are so much alike that I think the cousin thing is still good with them..any-hooI love reading stuff like this, Thanks..

 

[Isa]

Very interesting Terry,
Thanks a lot for sharing

 

[kevantheman35]

great read, this is going to be a good resource in my studies. thanks terry!

 

[Greg T]

Can you clear something up for me please - is a Leopard tortoise considered in the family of spur-thighed torts? I hardly see the term spur-thing and leopard together unlike with sulcata.

 

[egyptiandan]

No Leopards aren't in the spur-thighed family. They are actually just giant Tent tortoises. So much so that they were thinking of placing them in Psammobates, but went with a new Genus, Stigmochelys, instead.
Sulcatas aren't in the spur-thighed family either.

Danny

 

[Greg T]

No Leopards aren't in the spur-thighed family. They are actually just giant Tent tortoises. So much so that they were thinking of placing them in Psammobates, but went with a new Genus, Stigmochelys, instead.
Sulcatas aren't in the spur-thighed family either.

Danny

Thanks Danny. I'd have to say your knowledge of torts is simply amazing! So are they are not in the geochelone genus anymore? Would it be Stigmochelys Paradalis (Bobcocki) now?

 

[egyptiandan]

Only 2 or 3 tortoises are left in Geochelone. The 2 Star tortoises and possibly the sulcata. They also have a new genus for the sulcata, Centrochelys sulcata.
Yes Leopards are now Stigmochelys pardalis babcocki or S.p.pardalis.
When you write out genus, species and subspecies, genus is always capitalized with species and subspecies always lower case.

Danny

 

[Greg T]

Thanks! Now it all falls into place. Really appreciate the help!

 

[Yvonne G]

Only 2 or 3 tortoises are left in Geochelone. The 2 Star tortoises and possibly the sulcata. They also have a new genus for the sulcata, Centrochelys sulcata.
Yes Leopards are now Stigmochelys pardalis babcocki or S.p.pardalis.
When you write out genus, species and subspecies, genus is always capitalized with species and subspecies always lower case.

Danny

You mean my Aldabrans are no longer Geochelone gigantea?

Yvonne

 

[egyptiandan]

I'm afraid they aren't Yvonne They are Aldabrachelys dussumieri or Dipsochelys dussumieri.

Aldabrachelys or Dipsochelys: Bour (1982) originally
recommended that Aldabran tortoises (dussumieri or
gigantea) be placed in the genus Dipsochelys instead of
Aldabrachelys. However, Aldabrachelys is still widely
used, including sometimes by Bour (Austin et al., 2003),
though Dipsochelys is favored by others (Palkovacs et
al., 2002, 2003; Gerlach, 2004). There is recent disagreement
regarding the type specimen of Testudo
gigantea, the type species of Aldabrachelys, that was
presumed lost. Frazier (2006) designated a neotype for
T. gigantea, an act that would seemingly validate the
use of both Aldabrachelys and the terminal taxon
gigantea. Around the same time, Bour (2006) rediscovered
the original lost type specimen, which is actually an
individual of the South American tortoise Chelonoidis
denticulata. If this claim is correct, then the names
Aldabrachelys or gigantea might not be applicable to
Aldabran tortoises. Whether Frazier’s neotype designation
or Bour’s specimen rediscovery prevails
nomenclaturally remains a matter of ongoing debate,
but since Bour (2006) was the most recently published
authority we use the name dussumieri rather than
gigantea in our list.

Aldabrachelys or Dipsochelys dussumieri: Iverson
(1992) listed this species as Geochelone gigantea
Schweigger 1812. Many authors now use dussumieri for
the Aldabra tortoise (see above), but others persist in using
the older name gigantea (e.g., Fritz and Havas, 2006,
2007), and others have used the name elephantina Duméril
and Bibron 1835 (David, 1994; Devaux, 2007).

Danny

 

[Madkins007]

Along the same vein, all other reptiles and many other branches are going through the same thing. Dr. Joseph Collins (author of many herp books and the Peterson Field Guides on the subject) told at a local herp society meeting that a lot of the old groupings are already changed or changing.

The biggest surprise to me was that turtles are not considered reptiles anymore by many experts, as of about 2000. In fact, he said that is is now Reptilia, Eusuchia/Crocodilia, and Chelonia.

Dr. Collins website, which mentions some of this, is http://www.naherpetology.org/taxonomy.asp and a paper on the topic can be found at http://www.cnah.org/pdf_files/216.pdf

 

[terrypin]

No Leopards aren't in the spur-thighed family. They are actually just giant Tent tortoises. So much so that they were thinking of placing them in Psammobates, but went with a new Genus, Stigmochelys, instead.
Sulcatas aren't in the spur-thighed family either.

Danny

hi Danny i have been hearing reference to stigmochelys recently but wasnt sure if the new name was official.,so had been avoiding useing it,thanks for bringing me up to date.
Terryo thanks for the link really interesting and educational.
terry