Literaturdatenbank
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Manzano, A. S., Noriega, J. I., & Joyce, W. G. (2009). The tropical tortoise chelonoidis denticulata (testudines: testudinidae) from the late pleistocene of argentina and its paleoclimatological implications. Journal of Paleontology, 83(6), 975–980.
Added by: Admin (01 Aug 2010 18:22:00 UTC) |
| Resource type: Journal Article DOI: 10.1666/09-031.1 BibTeX citation key: Manzano2009 View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Chelonoidis, Chelonoidis carbonaria, Chelonoidis chilensis, Chelonoidis denticulata, Schildkröten = turtles + tortoises, Systematik = taxonomy, Testudinidae Creators: Joyce, Manzano, Noriega Collection: Journal of Paleontology |
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| Abstract |
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Testudinidae Geochelone The terrestrial tortoise clade Chelonoidis is endemic to the South American continent and nearby islands. Three continental species are currently recognized that inhabit three distinct habitats. The red-footed tortoise (C. carbonaria) and yellow-footed tortoise (C. denticulata) are often sympatric tropical to semi-tropical taxa, but the former taxon generally prefers open and wet savannahs, whereas the latter distinctly prefers permanent and wet forest cover. In contrast, the Chaco Tortoise, C. chilensis, is arid-adapted and lives along the eastern dry slopes of the southern Andes (Ernst and Barbour, 1989). The diverse group of generally dry-adapted tortoises from the Galapagos Islands is currently thought to be the gigantic sisters of C. chilensis (Caccone et al., 1999). At present only C. carbonaria and C. chilensis are native to Argentina, reflecting the lack of sufficiently wet tropical forests in that country to permit the presence of C. denticulata as well. The Pleistocene Argentinean fossil record so far only produced remains that can be identified as C. chilensis and the remain of a now extinct giant tortoise (e.g., de la Fuente, 1997, 1999; Noriega et al., 2000, 2004). Large tortoises from South America were historically classified as Geochelone, but they likely represent extinct giant forms of Chelonoidis (Le et al., 2006). Here we report a well-preserved tortoise plastron from the Late Pleistocene of Entre Rios Province, Argentina, referable to C. denticulata (Fig. 1). This find is significant, because it was found approximately 800 km south of the extant, tropical range of this taxon (Vanzolini, 1994). Given the restricted habitat preferences of this taxon today, this find implies that wet-tropical forests once extended significantly further south on the South American continent.
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