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Testudo graeca (common tortoise)

Reptilia - Testudines - Testudinidae

Taxonomy
Testudo graeca was named by Linnaeus (1758). It is extant. It is the type species of Testudo.

Sister species lacking formal opinion data
T. chailloti, T. lambrechti, T. roquesi

Synonymy list
YearName and author
1758Testudo graeca Linnaeus
1766Testudo graeca Linnaeus
1902Testudo graeca Hay p. 451
1930Testudo graeca Hay p. 101
2014Testudo graeca van Dijk et al.
2016Testudo graeca Vlachos and Delfino
2021Testudo graeca Vlachos

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
—Bilateria
—EubilateriaAx 1987
—Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
—Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
—Tetrapoda
—Reptiliomorpha
—Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
RankNameAuthor
—Cotylosauria()
—Amniota
—Sauropsida
classReptilia
—Testudinata(Oppel 1811)
orderTestudinesBatsch 1788
suborderCryptodira
—Pantestudinoidea
superfamilyTestudinoidea
familyTestudinidaeBatsch 1788
subfamilyTestudininae
tribeTestudininiBatsch 1788
genusTestudo
speciesgraeca

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

Testudo graeca Linnaeus 1758 [common tortoise]
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Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
E. Vlachos 2021The Greek fossils are herein attributed simply to the Testudo graeca complex, without any attempt to define it to a subspecific level in the lack of clear morphological characters. Coloration and the presence of keratinous thigh spurs are used to distinguish extant specimens, but these characters cannot be used in the fossil record. The presence of a cervical scute, the pattern of the neural plates being alternatively rectangular/octagonal, the coincidence of the costo-peripheral suture and the pleuro-marginal sulci, and the gulars that cover the anterior part of the entoplastron are characters diagnostic to the generic level, whereas the wide vertebrals (as opposed to the narrower vertebrals of Chersine), the presence of a hypo-xiphiplastral hinge, the posterior lobe being formed entirely by the xiphiplastra, and the absence of elongated posterior carapace (as opposed to the elongated carapace of Te. marginata) and posteriorly flared posterior peripherals (as opposed to Te. marginata and Te. brevitesta) allow a clear attribution of several fossil shells from Greece to the Te. graeca complex (e.g., Fig. 6.d–e).
Measurements
No measurements are available
Composition: phosphaticsubp
Environment: terrestrialf
Locomotion: actively mobilec
Life habit: ground dwellingf
Diet: herbivoref
Diet 2: herbivoref
Reproduction: oviparousf
Created: 2005-08-26 07:16:55
Modified: 2005-09-09 16:16:46
Source: f = family, c = class, subp = subphylum
References: Carroll 1988, Ernst and Barbour 1989, Hendy et al. 2009

Age range: base of the MN 7 + 8 to the top of the Holocene or 12.75000 to 0.00000 Ma

Collections (31 total)


Time interval Ma Country or state Original ID and collection number
Middle Miocene15.97 - 11.608Turkey (Ankara) Testudo graeca (184361)
Middle Miocene15.97 - 11.608Turkey (Kütahya) Testudo graeca (68560)
MN 7 + 812.75 - 11.1Turkey (Mugla) Testudo graeca (68559)
Late/Upper Miocene11.608 - 5.333Turkey (Konya) Testudo graeca (184392)
Late/Upper Miocene11.608 - 5.333Greece (Drama) Testudo graeca (182682)
Late/Upper Miocene11.608 - 5.333Turkey (Esme) Testudo graeca (184389)
Late/Upper Miocene11.608 - 5.333Turkey (Sivas) Testudo graeca (184402)
Late/Upper Miocene11.608 - 5.333Turkey (Afyon) Testudo graeca (184399)
Late/Upper Miocene11.608 - 5.333Turkey (Cankiri) Testudo graeca (184384 184387)
Late/Upper Miocene - Early/Lower Pliocene11.608 - 3.6Greece (Thessaloniki) Testudo amiatae (182683 182684)
MN 137.246 - 4.9Turkey (Cankiri) Testudo graeca (68569)
Ruscinian5.333 - 3.2Greece Testudo graeca (36579)
Pliocene5.333 - 2.588Turkey (Eskisehir) Testudo graeca (184390)
MN 154.2 - 3.2Turkey (Afion) Testudo graeca (68570)
Early/Lower Pleistocene2.588 - 0.781Croatia (Istria) Testudo sp. (40500)
Early/Lower Pleistocene2.588 - 0.781Georgia Testudo graeca (56733)
Early/Lower Pleistocene2.588 - 0.781Greece (Lesvos) Testudo sp. (183345)
Pleistocene2.588 - 0.0117Greece (Kassandra) Testudo graeca (192445)
Pleistocene2.588 - 0.0117France (Charente) Testudo graeca (195261)
Pleistocene2.588 - 0.0117Greece (Chalkidiki) Testudo graeca (183123)
Pleistocene2.588 - 0.0117Malta Testudo graeca (190860)
Pleistocene2.588 - 0.0117Morocco Testudo graeca (22489)
Middle Pleistocene0.774 - 0.129Israel Testudo graeca (192424 192425 230988)
Middle Pleistocene0.774 - 0.129Morocco Testudo graeca (42866)
Late/Upper Pleistocene0.129 - 0.0117Israel Testudo graeca (187335)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Bulgaria (Tolbuchin) Testudo graeca (227255)
Holocene0.0117 - 0.0Spain (Valencia) Testudo graeca (226737)