Galapagos Species Database

Taxon category: Accepted

Syn.: Geochelone guentheri (Baur, 1889), Testudo guentheri Baur, 1889 (original spelling "güntheri" is corrected based on ICZN not allowing German umlauts like "ü" and must be transcribed to "ue" (ICZN Art .32.5. 2.1.) Despite this clarification, the reviewed bibliographical sources omit the use of the e and this behavior is adopted. Testudo macrophyes, Garman, 1917, Geochelone elephantopus guentheri Pritchard, 1971, Geochelone elephantopus guentheri Pritchard, 1971, Chelonoidis guentheri Bour, 1980; Type specimen: Oxford Museum, England. Le et al. (2006) demonstrate that the genus Geochelone is polyphyletic and that the Galapagos Giant Tortoises are better treated as the monophyletic genus Chelonoidis. According to Márquez et al. (2004) and Poulakakis et al. (2008) the Geochelone taxa (= Chelonoidis) from Galapagos are genetically distinct and therefore treated as species and not as subspecies of Geochelone (= Chelonoidis) nigra.

Taxon origin: Endemic

Distribution: Restricted to Sierra Negra Volcano on Isabela Island.

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• IUCN (2010) IUCN Red list of threatened species. Version 2010.1. www.iucnredlist.org
• Van Denburgh, J. (1914) The gigantic land tortoises of the Galápagos archipelago. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2, part 1: 203–374, pls. 12-124.
• Poulakakis, N. Glaberman, S., Russello, M., Beheregaray, L.B., Ciofi, C., Powell, J.R. & Caccone, A. (2008) Historical DNA analysis reveals living descendants of an extinct species of Galápagos tortoise. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (PNAS) 105(49): 15464-15469.
• Ernst, C.H. Barbour, R.W. (1989) Turtles of the world. Smithsonian Instit. Press. USA 313 pp.
• Heller, E. (1903) Reptiles. In Papers from the Hopkins Stanford Galapagos Expedition 1898-1899. Proceedings of the Washington Academy Sciences 5: 39-98.
• Fritts, T.H. (2001) A brief review of the taxonomic history of Galapagos Tortoise relevant to consideration of the most appropiate generic and specifc name for Giant Tortoises in Galapagos. U.S. Geological survey Report, 7 pp.
• Caccone, A. Gibbs, J.P., Ketmaier, V., Suatoni, E. and Powell, J.R. (1999) Origin and Evolutionary Relationships of Giant Galapagos Tortoises. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. United States of America (PNAS) 96(23): 13223-13228.
• Márquez, C. Wiedenfeld, D.A., Snell, H.L., Fritts, T., MacFarland, C., Tapia, W., & Naranjo, S. (2004) Population status of Giant Land Tortoises (Geochelone spp., Chelonya: Testudinae) from the Galapagos Islands. Ecología Aplicada 3(1-2): 98-111.
• Russello M.A. Poulakakis, N., Gibbs, J.P., Tapia, W., Benavides, E., Powell, J.R. & Caccone, A. (2010) DNA from the Past Informs Ex Situ Conservation for the Future: An ‘Extinct’’ Species of Galápagos Tortoise Identified in Captivity. PLoS ONE 5(1): e8683. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008683
• Le, M. Raxworthy, C.J., McCord, W.P. & Mertz, L. (2006) A molecular phylogeny of tortoises (Testudines: Testudinidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40(2006): 517–531.
• Arteaga, A. Bustamante, L., Vierira, J., Tapia, W., Guayasamin, J.M. (2019) Reptiles of the Galapagos Life on the Enchanted Islands Tropical Herping
• IUCN (2021) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021-1. Https://www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on agosto 2021
• GBIF Secretariat (2021) GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei Accessed via https://www.gbif.org/species/5284517

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