Aldabrachelys gigantea Subspecies

[ThylacineAlive]

So I was chatting with TeaLovingDave in the chatroom and he decided to make my life more difficult by telling me that other Aldabra Giant Tortoise ssp besides the nominate keep popping up more and more in captivity

Now apparently there's a thread like this in the UK where it was worked out which zoos kept which (like Blackpool and Paignton have A. g. hololissa) so I figured let's try to see if any U.S. zoos keep any odd ssp. So if you know feel free to comment!

~Thylo

 

[TeaLovingDave]

A single individual at Blackpool, to be precise with the other being nominate.

 

[Chlidonias]

Now apparently there's a thread like this in the UK where it was worked out which zoos kept which (like Blackpool and Paignton have A. g. hololissa)...

what is the thread in the UK forum to which you refer? The only one I could see was this very brief photo thread: http://www.zoochat.com/193/seychelles-giant-tortoise-blackpool-zoo-30-a-359750/

 

[TeaLovingDave]

I believe thylo misunderstood me; I said the matter had been discussed in past threads somewhere on Zoochat, not that there had been a dedicated thread about it. There is definitely other discussion of the matter in the depths of the forum somewhere.....

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

The genus is Dipsochelys. The taxa are D. dussumieri (Aldabra), D. hololissa and D. arnoldi (Seychelles).

There is still a huge debate on the present Seychelles tortoise and genetics with basically 2 camps. One on the basis of morphology / anatomy splitting the current surviving tortoises into 3 taxa and one - the genetics line - still claiming that only D. dussumieri survives into the present ...

I am somewhere in the middle ...

 

[DDcorvus]

Do you have any articles on the genetic research KB? I thought the debate on the hololissa specimens was finalized with the 12 animals that were rediscouvered were genetically different from dussumieri except for one specimen that is 150 years old or so.

A good population of arnoldi would actually be very useful for some "rewilding" projects on/near Mauritius as it would give us a saddle-back tortoise from the Indian ocean.

 

[MikeG]

The genus is Dipsochelys.

It has apparently now been resolved that Aldabrachelys gigantea is the valid name of this species and D. dussumieri is suppressed.
For more details see:
Frazier, J. 2009. Case 3463. Testudo gigantea Schweigger, 1812 (currently Geochelone (Aldabrachelys) gigantea: Reptilia, Testudines): proposed conservation of usage of the specific name by maintenance of a designated neotype, and suppression of Testudo dussumieri Gray.
In Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 66(1): 34-50.

 

[ThylacineAlive]

The genus is Dipsochelys. The taxa are D. dussumieri (Aldabra), D. hololissa and D. arnoldi (Seychelles).

As mentioned earlier, it's now Aldabrachelys gigantea and holoissa and arnoldi are considered ssp along with daudinii apparently.

~Thylo