Centrochelys vulcanica explained

The Gran Canaria giant tortoise[1] (Centrochelys vulcanica[2]) is an extinct species of cryptodire turtle in the family Testudinidae endemic to the island of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands.[3]

Characteristics

C. vulcanica is known from fossils on Gran Canaria dating to the Pliocene epoch (5.3-2.6 million years ago).[4] The other species is C. burchardi, from the island of Tenerife.[5] [6]

C. vulcanica was described by López-Jurado & Mateo in 1993. It is believed that the ancestors of these two species of giant tortoises reached the Canary Islands from North Africa.[7] The majority of C. vulcanica fossils are of eggs and nests ranging in age from the Miocene until Pliocene. Bones and shells are known from the Miocene to the Upper Pleistocene. The maximum shell length is up to 61 centimeters, make it slightly smaller than C. burchardi, which had a shell length range of 65 to 94 cm.[8]

Fossilized tortoise eggs have been found in the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura; however, these eggs have not yet been properly described or named.[9] The Fuerteventura fossils have been linked to C. burchardi, but this identification is uncertain, and has been challenged.[10] [11]

While often placed in the genus Centrochelys, which contains the living African spurred tortoise, the limited remains of the species make its placement in the genus uncertain, and thus the species is often referred to as "Centrochelys" vulcanica.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database Extinct Reptiles: Geochelone vulcanica . 2016-06-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160624024409/http://cubits.org/TheExtinctionCubit/db/extinctreptiles/view/18696/ . 2016-06-24 . dead .
  2. Anders G.J. Rhodin . Scott Thomson . Georgios L. Georgalis . Hans-Volker Karl . Igor G. Danilov . Akio Takahashi . Marcelo S. de la Fuente . Jason R. Bourque . Massimo Delfino . Roger Bour . John B. Iverson . H. Bradley Shaffer . Peter Paul van Dijk . 2015 . Turtles and Tortoises of the World During the Rise and Global Spread of Humanity: First Checklist and Review of Extinct Pleistocene and Holocene Chelonians . Chelonian Research Monographs . 5 . 8 . 000e.1–66 . 10.3854/crm.5.000e.fossil.checklist.v1.2015 . free .
  3. Web site: La Paleontología de vertebrados en Canarias . 2016-06-17 . 2018-10-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181001232450/http://www.sepaleontologia.es/revista/anteriores/REP%20Extra%201996/21Castillo.pdf . dead .
  4. Georgalis . Georgios L. . Macaluso . Loredana . Delfino . Massimo . 2021-04-02 . A Review of the Fossil Record of Afro-Arabian Turtles of the Clade Testudinoidea . Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History . 62 . 1 . 10.3374/014.062.0103 . 0079-032X.
  5. Web site: Fauna subfósil de las Islas Canarias . 2016-06-17 . 2020-12-31 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201231134631/http://atlantic-island.eu/mediapool/65/656570/data/AtlasBook/24._fosiles.pdf . dead .
  6. Web site: La Paleontología de vertebrados en Canarias . 2016-06-17 . 2018-10-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181001232450/http://www.sepaleontologia.es/revista/anteriores/REP%20Extra%201996/21Castillo.pdf . dead .
  7. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260591707_El_legado_paleontologico_de_nuestras_islas_un_patrimonio_a_conservar El legado paleontológico de nuestras islas
  8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260591707_El_legado_paleontologico_de_nuestras_islas_un_patrimonio_a_conservar El legado paleontológico de nuestras islas
  9. Web site: Fauna subfósil de las Islas Canarias . 2016-06-17 . 2020-12-31 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201231134631/http://atlantic-island.eu/mediapool/65/656570/data/AtlasBook/24._fosiles.pdf . dead .
  10. Web site: New chelonian eggs from the Tertiary of Lanzarote of Fuerteventura . 2016-06-17 . 2016-06-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160619100112/http://www.azoresbioportal.angra.uac.pt/files/publicacoes_Vieraea_26_1997-98_13.pdf . dead .
  11. http://cubits.org/search/index.php?q=Geochelone+ The Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database Extinct Reptiles: Geochelone

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