Fernandina Island Galápagos tortoise explained

Chelonoidis niger phantasticus (commonly known as the Fernandina Island Galápagos tortoise or Narborough Island giant tortoise) is a subspecies of Galápagos tortoise that was discovered in 1906 and thought extinct, until a single female was discovered living on Fernandina Island by an expedition in February 2019.[1] [2] [3] In May 2021, a genetic test carried out by scientists from the California Academy of Sciences confirmed that the single female tortoise discovered in 2019 is from the subspecies Chelonoidis niger phantasticus.[4] [5] The subspecies name has often been misspelled as phantastica, an error introduced in the 1980s when Chelonoidis was elevated to genus and mistakenly treated as feminine, an error recognized and fixed in 2017.

Taxonomy

Chelonoidis niger phantasticus is considered a subspecies of Chelonoidis niger, sometimes considered a valid species itself alongside all other subspecies. Rhodin et al. (2010) lists them separately but under the heading "C. niger species complex".[6]

Discovery and rediscovery

Originally known from only one male specimen found (and killed) by members of the 1906 California Academy of Sciences expedition,[7] there were discoveries of putative tortoise droppings and cactus bite marks in 1964 and 2013, and an unconfirmed sighting in 2009.[8]

No confirmed live tortoises nor remains were found on Fernandina until an expedition in February 2019 discovered a potential endling, an elderly female.[9] The tortoise was transferred to a breeding center on nearby Santa Cruz Island, for the purpose of conservation and genetic tests. There are efforts being made to find a suitable male breeding mate for the female.[10] [11] [12]

The 2019 expedition was undertaken by the Galapagos National Park Directorate and Galapagos Conservancy and was led by Washington Tapia-Aguilera—Director of Conservation at the Galapagos Conservancy and director of the Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative[13] —and included four rangers: Jeffreys Málaga, Eduardo Vilema, Roberto Ballesteros, and Simon Villamar.[1] The search and discovery were shown in Forrest Galante's television show, Extinct or Alive (season 2, episode 1). While some accounts have credited Galante with the discovery,[14] this is disputed by Tapia-Aguilera who has highlighted that "Ecuadorian park ranger Jeffreys Málaga was the one that knew the land, tracked the tortoise, and ultimately made the discovery before calling over the rest of the team."

Galante himself wrote in his 2021 memoir that Málaga spotted the tortoise, prompting Galante to race toward it and lift it up.[15] [16] [17] He continued to accuse Tapia-Aguilera of erasing Galante’s own involvement in the discovery to bolster his career, and said he’d have been glad to give the local biologists the lead and share credit with them had they asked. The Galapagos Conservancy has reportedly launched further expeditions to Fernandina Island searching for a male tortoise, rebuffing Galante’s attempts to collaborate again.

On May 25, 2021, officials announced that genetic tests had confirmed that the female tortoise found in 2019 is indeed a member of the Chelonoidis niger phantasticus subspecies. Geneticists from Yale University in the United States compared the female's DNA with a sample extracted from the male specimen found in 1906.[18] In 2022, the genetic findings were formally published.[19]

The Director of the Galapagos National Park, Danny Rueda, has said that a further expedition will be launched to Fernandina Island to try to locate other members of the same subspecies.[20]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: How an 'extinct' tortoise was rediscovered after a century. https://web.archive.org/web/20190223102453/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/02/extinct-fernandina-giant-tortoise-found/. dead. February 23, 2019. Jill. Langlois. February 22, 2019. National Geographic Society. 2019-10-29.
  2. Web site: Tortoise thought to be extinct for a century found alive in Galapagos. Nina. Godlewski. 2019-02-21. Newsweek. en. 2019-04-09.
  3. News: Stambaugh . Alex . 'Extinct' Galapagos tortoise found after 100 years . 22 February 2019 . CNN . 21 February 2019.
  4. Web site: Galápagos tortoise found alive is from species thought extinct . May 26, 2021 . BBC . 2021-05-26.
  5. Web site: 2021-05-27. Giant Tortoise Found in Galapagos Confirmed to Belong to Species Thought to be Extinct May 27, 2021. 2021-05-27. The Daily NewsBrief. en-US.
  6. Rhodin . A.G.J. . van Dijk . P.P. . Iverson . J.B. . Shaffer . H.B. . Turtles of the World, 2010 Update: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status. . Chelonian Research Monographs . 2010 . 5 . 000.85–000.164 . 10.3854/crm.5.000.checklist.v3.2010 . 978-0965354097 .
  7. California Academy of Sciences. (1907). Expedition of the California academy of sciences to the Galapagos islands, 1905-1906. San Francisco: The Academy.
  8. Hendrickson . J.R. . Reptiles of the Galápagos . Pacific Discovery . 1965 . 5 . 18.
  9. Web site: Tortuga considerada extinta hace 100 años es descubierta en Galápagos . 18 July 2020 . es.
  10. Web site: Marcelo Mata on Twitter. 2019-02-20. es.
  11. Web site: Not seen for 100 years, a rare Galápagos tortoise was considered all but extinct – until now. USA TODAY. en. 2019-02-21.
  12. Web site: Giant tortoise believed extinct for 100 years found in Galápagos . The Guardian . 21 February 2019 . 21 February 2019.
  13. Web site: Galapagos Conservancy staff page. 21 April 2020 . es.
  14. Web site: Discoveries . forrestgalante.com . 23 March 2019 . In 2019, during an expedition to the Galapagos, Galante trekked over Fernandina Island and discovered a female Fernandina Island tortoise, a species that hadn’t been seen for 113 years and also was classified as extinct. . January 30, 2021 . 23 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200323042124/https://www.forrestgalante.com/post/discoveries . dead .
  15. Web site: In the bombast of an American TV host, colonial science lives on . . en . 8 March 2020 . Andrew J. . Wight.
  16. Jensen . Evelyn L. . Gaughran . Stephen J. . Fusco . Nicole A. . Poulakakis . Nikos . Tapia . Washington . Sevilla . Christian . Málaga . Jeffreys . Mariani . Carol . Gibbs . James P. . Caccone . Adalgisa . 2022-06-09 . The Galapagos giant tortoise Chelonoidis phantasticus is not extinct . Communications Biology . en . 5 . 1 . 546 . 10.1038/s42003-022-03483-w . 35681083 . 9184544 . 2399-3642.
  17. Book: Galante, Forrest . Still Alive: A Wild Life of Rediscovery . Hachette Books . 2021 . 9780306924262 . Chapter 9 . English.
  18. Web site: 2021-05-26. Ecuador confirms Galapagos tortoise is from species thought extinct. 2021-05-27. France 24. en.
  19. Jensen . Evelyn L. . Gaughran . Stephen J. . Fusco . Nicole A. . Poulakakis . Nikos . Tapia . Washington . Sevilla . Christian . Málaga . Jeffreys . Mariani . Carol . Gibbs . James P. . Caccone . Adalgisa . The Galapagos giant tortoise Chelonoidis phantasticus is not extinct . Communications Biology . 2022 . 5 . 1 . 546 . 10.1038/s42003-022-03483-w. 35681083 . 9184544 .
  20. News: 2021-05-26. Galápagos tortoise found alive is from species thought extinct. en-GB. BBC News. 2021-05-27.

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