Research Article |
Corresponding author: Mario Schweiger ( office@vipersgarden.at ) Academic editor: Philipp Wagner
© 2020 Mario Schweiger, Richard Gemel.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Schweiger M, Gemel R (2020) Where do you come from, stranger? A scientific-historical digression with discussion on nomenclature and taxonomy of Testudo graeca Linnaeus, 1758. Herpetozoa 33: 31-38. https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.33.e39155
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It is shown that the location data for the terra typica restricta of Testudo graeca and for the terra typica designata for Testudo graeca are based on an incorrectly assigned location. In fact, the original place corresponds to Santa Cruz, known today as Agadir (Morocco) and not the old Spanish fortress of Santa Cruz near Oran in Algeria. Accordingly, populations of Testudo graeca from the Agadir environment have to be named Testudo graeca graeca instead of Testudo graeca soussensis. For the populations of Testudo graeca from the vicinity of Algiers, “mauritanica” is the next available name for this subspecies of graeca. Therefore, Testudo graeca mauritanica has to be used instead of Testudo graeca graeca. For Testudo graeca mauritanica, a lectotypus is designated.
Algeria, distribution, Morocco, North Africa, Reptilia, Testudines, Testudinidae, Spur thighed tortoise, terra typica designata, terra typica restricta
The tenth edition of the first volume of “Systema naturae” – Syst. Nat. (ed.10) – by Carolus
The description of the tortoise, to which Linnaeus refers, is in the fourth volume of the “Natural history of birds ...” (
In the earlier published part 2 of his “Natural history of birds ...” (1747) Edwards had already given some more precise information on the origin of the objects, which he had received from Thomas Rawlings from Santa Cruz. Describing the “Red legg’d Partridge, from Barbary”, Edwards notes (page 70): “A Pair of these Birds were sent to me alive by my good Friend, Mr. Thomas Rawlings, Merchant, residing at Santa Cruz, in that Part of Barbary which lies without the Straits of Gibraltar, on the Atlantic Ocean.”
Plate 204 out of Edwards, G. (1751): “A natural history of birds. The most of which have not hitherto been either figured or described, and the rest, by reason of obscure, or too brief descriptions without figures, or of figures very ill designed, are hitherto but little known: Part IV” etc. Above there is “The African Land-Tortoise”, = Testudo graeca Linné.
The city was founded by the Portuguese Joao Lopes de Sequeira in 1505 originally a commercial settlement – and was named Santa Cruz do Cabo de Gué. Later, the names “Santa Cruz de Narba” and “Santa Cruz de Aguer” were used. In 1541, the settlement was conquered by the Berbers and expanded to a major trading post. From 1756 its importance as a trading place in favor of Mogador (Essaouira) declined further.
(https://historiasdeportugalemarrocos.com/2015/02/18/santa-cruz-do-cabo-guer/; retrieved in August, 2019)
Lempriere (1814), a contemporary source to Edwards, describes in his travel memoirs of 1789 the decay of Santa Cruz: “Santa Cruz is a sea-port, situated on the declivity of a high and steep mountain, forming the western termination of that chain of mountains, which nearly divides the Emperor’s dominions in two parts, so well-known by the name of the Atlas. It formerly belonged to the Portuguese, and till the accession of Sidi Mahomet was the principal place whence Europeans were allowed to trade. It is at present a deserted town, with only a few houses, which are almost hourly mouldering to decay.”
The misinterpretation of the Terra typica of Testudo graeca progressively took place, starting from the type locality “Africa” by
Apparently under the influence of having several specimens from the vicinity of Algier in his collection – including several specimens collected by himself in 1861 – Strauch now declares Santa Cruz with the addition of “alte spanische Festung bei Oran in der Algérie“ [(old Spanish fortress at Oran in the Algérie)] as Terra typica restricta. Ever since this misinterpretation, the error has been adopted by all other authors.
In any case,
These assignations were retained in all subsequent lists (
The species complex of Testudo graeca has been subject to intensive taxonomic investigations in recent years. As a consequence of this, numerous names were established but several ones have been synonymized in subsequent studies. According to the results of mitochondrial and nuclear range wide data,
Accordingly, the specimen referred to by Linnaeus in the description of Testudo graeca comes from the area assigned to the subspecies Testudo graeca soussensis Pieh, 2001 “2000” (= mitochondrial lineage D sensu Fritz et al. 2006). Consequently, due to priority, this subspecies has to be named Testudo graeca graeca Linnaeus, 1758. Testudo graeca soussensis Pieh, 2001 “2000” therefore is a junior subjective synonym of Testudo graeca graeca Linnaeus, 1758. The detailed description of Pieh 2001 “2000” with extensive morphological data can therefore be considered as a redescription of Testudo graeca graeca.
As a matter of fact, Edwards reports a male and female of this species in his holding “I had a male and female of this species; they lived two years with me; in the garden of the College of Physicians, London”. Consequently, the specimen pictured on the iconography has to be designated as lectotype of Testudo graeca (ICZN Art. 74) and therefore cannot be the holotype. It is undoubtedly the male of the two specimens. Consequently, this male is the name bearing lectotype of Testudo graeca. Whenever the female of Edwards´ collection emerges it had the rank of a Paralectotype.
The oldest available name is Testudo pusilla Linné, 1758. As already
The next available name is Testudo mauritanica Dumeril & Bibron, 1835: 44. Accordingly, the populations of northeastern Morocco and Algeria have to be assigned to Testudo graeca mauritanica Dumeril & Bibron instead of Testudo graeca graeca Linnaeus, 1758.
Because the specimen depicted on plate 204 in
From the very beginning, it was the intention of the authors to maintain the subspecies name for graeca in place of mauritanica to avoid any potential for subsequent confusion. For this purpose, a specimen of mauritanica – ideally a type specimen of mauritanica – should be selected for it to be designated as Neotypus. Subsequently, an application to the Commission under Art. 75.6. should have been made. A considerable amount of facts would have been necessary to demonstrate that the change of the subspecies name from one population to the other would have a significant impact on the worldwide biological community. Since the chance of such a solution had to be considered low, a corresponding request was not made. After checking other solutions for this problem, we found out that no other option is possible than given in our results.
As a result of the taxonomic changes taken herein, the distribution of the Maghrebian tortoises is as follows:
Testudo g. marokkensis (not affected): north western Morocco: eastwards to the Middle Atlas and south to the northern parts of the Mesata (the large plain in northern Morocco).
Testudo graeca graeca: Morocco: north of the High Atlas mountain chain from the junction with the Middle Atlas in the east westwards to the Atlantic ocean with a few distribution spots in the foreland (Jbilets hills). South of this mountain chain eastwards through the Souss valley and the Ouarzazate basin to Boulmalne du Dades, with questionable records from Erfoud and Alnif, the latter south of the Anti Atlas mountain chain. Along the Atlantic Ocean the distribution of Testudo g. graeca runs south to the latitude of the south western end of the Anti-Atlas. Also here are some questionable records close to the border with the Western Sahara (
Testudo graeca mauritanica: from north east Morocco east of the Moulouya river eastwards through northern Algeria to the Tunisian border. A very unlikely finding at Figuig in easternmost south Morocco (
Testudo graeca nabeulensis (not affected): north east Tunisia.
The authors thank Uwe Fritz, Patrick Campbell (BMNH), Rayna Bell and Steve W. Gotte (USNM), Annemarie Ohler and Roger Bour† (MNHN), Francisco Welter-Schultes, Doug Yanega and Scott Thomson for their worthwhile information, comments and criticisms on this manuscript.