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Uwe Fritz - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Tropical ancient DNA reveals relationships of the extinct Bahamian giant tortoise Chelonoidis alburyorum.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2017Co-Authors: Christian Kehlmaier, Nancy A. Albury, Richard Franz, David W. Steadman, Axel Barlow, Alexander K. Hastings, Melita Vamberger, Johanna L. A. Paijmans, Michael Hofreiter, Uwe FritzAbstract:Ancient DNA of extinct species from the Pleistocene and Holocene has provided valuable evolutionary insights. However, these are largely restricted to mammals and high latitudes because DNA preservation in warm climates is typically poor. In the tropics and subtropics, non-avian reptiles constitute a significant part of the fauna and little is known about the genetics of the many extinct reptiles from tropical islands. We have reconstructed the near-complete mitochondrial genome of an extinct giant tortoise from the Bahamas (Chelonoidis alburyorum) using an approximately 1 000-year-old humerus from a water-filled sinkhole (blue hole) on Great Abaco Island. Phylogenetic and molecular clock analyses place this extinct species as closely related to Galapagos (C. niger complex) and Chaco tortoises (C. chilensis), and provide evidence for repeated overseas dispersal in this tortoise group. The ancestors of extant Chelonoidis species arrived in South America from Africa only after the opening of the Atlantic Ocean and dispersed from there to the Caribbean and the Galapagos Islands. Our results also suggest that the anoxic, thermally buffered environment of blue holes may enhance DNA preservation, and thus are opening a window for better understanding evolution and population history of extinct tropical species, which would likely still exist without human impact.
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northern genetic richness and southern purity but just one species in the Chelonoidis chilensis complex
Zoologica Scripta, 2012Co-Authors: Uwe Fritz, Leandro Alcalde, Mario Vargasramirez, Eric V Goode, David Uri Fabiusturoblin, Peter PraschagAbstract:Fritz, U., Alcalde, L., Vargas-Ramirez, M., Goode, E.V., Fabius-Turoblin, D.U. & Praschag, P. (2012). Northern genetic richness and southern purity, but just one species in the Chelonoidis chilensis complex. —Zoologica Scripta, 41, 220–232. The Chelonoidis chilensis complex, the sister group of the famous Galapagos tortoises, is a widely distributed group of South American land tortoises, ranging from the dry Chaco of Bolivia, Paraguay and northern Argentina to northern Patagonia. Within this complex, up to three distinct species have been recognized. Using sequence data of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and length polymorphisms of 10 microsatellite loci, we investigate genetic differentiation among all three nominal species. We find only negligible differentiation, with decreasing genetic diversity from north to south. We conclude that only one species, Chelonoidis chilensis (Gray, 1870), is valid, with C. donosobarrosi (Freiberg, 1973) and C. petersi (Freiberg, 1973) as its junior synonyms. Morphological variation within C. chilensis sensu lato is in accord with the observation that size variation in chelonians follows Bergmann’s rule, with body size increasing with latitude. The observed phylogeographic differentiation inverses the well-known pattern of southern genetic richness and northern purity from the northern hemisphere, resulting from dispersal from glacial refugia. This implies that in higher latitudes of both hemispheres genetic diversity may decrease with increasing distance from the refugium. For C. chilensis sensu lato, it seems likely that long-distance dispersal via rafting on the Desaguadero River led to the foundation of the southernmost populations in northern Patagonia during the Holocene.
James P. Gibbs - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Identification of Genetically Important Individuals of the Rediscovered Floreana Galápagos Giant Tortoise (Chelonoidis elephantopus) Provide Founders for Species Restoration Program.
Scientific Reports, 2017Co-Authors: Joshua M. Miller, Ryan C. Garrick, Michael A. Russello, James P. Gibbs, Nikos Poulakakis, Maud C. Quinzin, Danielle L. Edwards, Luciano B. Beheregaray, Claudio Ciofi, Elizabeth A. HunterAbstract:Species are being lost at an unprecedented rate due to human-driven environmental changes. The cases in which species declared extinct can be revived are rare. However, here we report that a remote volcano in the Galapagos Islands hosts many giant tortoises with high ancestry from a species previously declared as extinct: Chelonoidis elephantopus or the Floreana tortoise. Of 150 individuals with distinctive morphology sampled from the volcano, genetic analyses revealed that 65 had C. elephantopus ancestry and thirty-two were translocated from the volcano’s slopes to a captive breeding center. A genetically informed captive breeding program now being initiated will, over the next decades, return C. elephantopus tortoises to Floreana Island to serve as engineers of the island’s ecosystems. Ironically, it was the haphazard translocations by mariners killing tortoises for food centuries ago that created the unique opportunity to revive this “lost” species today.
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Reviving A Lost Species: The Case Of The Floreana Galapagos Giant Tortoise Chelonoidis elephantopus
2017Co-Authors: Joshua M. Miller, Ryan C. Garrick, Michael A. Russello, James P. Gibbs, Nikos Poulakakis, Maud C. Quinzin, Danielle L. Edwards, Luciano B. Beheregaray, Claudio Ciofi, Elizabeth A. HunterAbstract:Species are being lost at an unprecedented rate due to human-driven environmental changes. The cases in which species declared extinct can be revived are extremely rare. However, here we report that a remote volcano in the Galapagos Islands hosts many giant tortoises with extremely high ancestry from a species previously declared as extinct: Chelonoidis elephantopus or the Floreana tortoise. Of 150 individuals with distinctive morphology sampled from the volcano, genetic analyses revealed that 65 had C. elephantopus ancestry. Thirty-two were translocated from the volcano9s slopes to a captive breeding center. A genetically informed captive breeding program now being initiated will, over the next decades, return C. elephantopus tortoises to Floreana Island to serve as engineers of the island9s ecosystems. Ironically, it was the haphazard translocations by mariners killing tortoises for food centuries ago that created the unique opportunity to revive this “lost” species today.
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Description of a New Galapagos Giant Tortoise Species (Chelonoidis; Testudines: Testudinidae) from Cerro Fatal on Santa Cruz Island
PLOS ONE, 2015Co-Authors: Nikos Poulakakis, Ryan C. Garrick, Edgar Benavides, Michael A. Russello, Ylenia Chiari, Washington Tapia, Danielle L. Edwards, Gregory J. Watkins-colwell, Scott Glaberman, James P. GibbsAbstract:The taxonomy of giant Galapagos tortoises (Chelonoidis spp.) is currently based primarily on morphological characters and island of origin. Over the last decade, compelling genetic evidence has accumulated for multiple independent evolutionary lineages, spurring the need for taxonomic revision. On the island of Santa Cruz there is currently a single named species, C. porteri. Recent genetic and morphological studies have shown that, within this taxon, there are two evolutionarily and spatially distinct lineages on the western and eastern sectors of the island, known as the Reserva and Cerro Fatal populations, respectively. Analyses of DNA from natural populations and museum specimens, including the type specimen for C. porteri, confirm the genetic distinctiveness of these two lineages and support elevation of the Cerro Fatal tortoises to the rank of species. In this paper, we identify DNA characters that define this new species, and infer evolutionary relationships relative to other species of Galapagos tortoises.
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The genetic legacy of Lonesome George survives: Giant tortoises with Pinta Island ancestry identified in Galápagos
Biological Conservation, 2013Co-Authors: Danielle L. Edwards, Ryan C. Garrick, Edgar Benavides, Michael A. Russello, James P. Gibbs, Kirstin Dion, Chaz Hyseni, Washington Tapia, Joseph P. Flanagan, Adalgisa CacconeAbstract:The death of Lonesome George, the last known purebred individual of Chelonoidis abingdoni native to Pinta Island, marked the extinction of one of 10 surviving giant tortoise species from the Galapagos Archipelago. Using a DNA reference dataset including historical C. abingdoni and >1600 living Volcano Wolf tortoise samples, a site on Isabela Island known to harbor hybrid tortoises, we discovered 17 individuals with ancestry in C. abingdoni. These animals belong to various hybrid categories, including possible first generation hybrids, and represent multiple, unrelated individuals. Their ages and relative abundance suggest that additional hybrids and conceivably purebred C. abingdoni individuals still occur on Volcano Wolf. Spatial analyses suggest locations where additional individuals with C. abingdoni ancestry are most likely to be recovered, consistent with historical records of human movement of tortoises. These results provide an opportunity for species recovery of Pinta Island tortoises using individuals with C. abingdoni ancestry.
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Genetic rediscovery of an ‘extinct’ Galápagos giant tortoise species
Current Biology, 2012Co-Authors: Ryan C. Garrick, Edgar Benavides, Michael A. Russello, James P. Gibbs, Nikos Poulakakis, Kirstin Dion, Chaz Hyseni, Brittney Kajdacsi, Marquez, Sarah BahanAbstract:Summary Genes from recently extinct species can live on in the genomes of extant individuals of mixed ancestry. Recently, genetic signatures of the giant Galapagos tortoise once endemic to Floreana Island ( Chelonoidis elephantopus ) were detected within eleven hybrid individuals of otherwise pure Chelonoidis becki on Volcano Wolf, Isabela Island [1]. Movement of tortoises between islands by pirate and whaling ships was not uncommon during the 1800s [2], representing a likely mechanism by which individuals from Floreana were translocated to northern Isabela, despite being presumed extinct soon after Charles Darwin's historic voyage to the Galapagos Islands in 1835. These eleven hybrid individuals with C. elephantopus ancestry were thought to be the last genetic vestiges of a unique evolutionary lineage in the wild. Here, we report that reproductively mature purebred tortoises of the recently ‘extinct' C. elephantopus from Floreana Island are very likely still alive today, as identified and tracked through the genetic footprints left in the genomes of very recent hybrid offspring on Volcano Wolf. If found, these purebred C. elephantopus individuals could constitute core founders of a captive breeding program directed towards resurrecting this species.
Martinez Jean-noël - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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"Pleistocene fossil turtles (Testudinoidea, cryptodira) from the Talara Tar seeps, Peru"
'Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos Vicerectorado de Investigacion', 2020Co-Authors: Deza Anthony, Cadena Edwin, Martinez Jean-noëlAbstract:"A description of Pleistocene fossil turtles discovered in the Talara Tar Seeps, Tablazos deposits of the northern coast of Peru is provided in this paper. The specimens are mostly fragmentary plates of carapaces and plastra of turtles belonging to two cryptodiran families of the superfamily Testudinoidea, identified to genus level based on measurements and comparisons with extant and fossil taxa and identification of mosaic diagnostic features. Turtles of the Geoemydidae family are the most abundant, with fossil remains attributed to Rhinoclemmys (indeterminate species). Less abundant fossil remains belong to the Testudinidae, with specimens attributed to the genus Chelonoidis (indeterminate species). These fossils show that the northern coast of Peru had ecosystems that supported abundant aquatic and terrestrial turtles (tortoises) during the Pleistocene in areas where they are completely absent today. © 2019 Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. All rights reserved.
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Tortugas fósiles (Testudinoidea, Cryptodira) del Pleistoceno del yacimiento de brea de Talara, Perú
Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 2019Co-Authors: Deza Anthony, Cadena Edwin, Martinez Jean-noëlAbstract:A description of Pleistocene fossil turtles discovered in the Talara Tar Seeps, Tablazos deposits of the northern coast of Peru is provided in this paper. The specimens are mostly fragmentary plates of carapaces and plastra of turtles belonging to two cryptodiran families of the superfamily Testudinoidea, identified to genus level based on measurements and comparisons with extant and fossil taxa and identification of mosaic diagnostic features. Turtles of the Geoemydidae family are the most abundant, with fossil remains attributed to Rhinoclemmys (indeterminate species). Less abundant fossil remains belong to the Testudinidae, with specimens attributed to the genus Chelonoidis (indeterminate species). These fossils show that the northern coast of Peru had ecosystems that supported abundant aquatic and terrestrial turtles (tortoises) during the Pleistocene in areas where they are completely absent today.El presente trabajo proporciona una descripción de las tortugas fósiles del Pleistoceno descubiertas en el yacimiento de brea de Talara, en la costa norte del Perú. La mayoría de los especímenes son fragmentos de placas del caparazón y del plastrón de tortugas pertenecientes a dos familias de criptodiras dentro de la superfamilia Testudinoidea. La familia Geoemydidae es la más abundante con restos fósiles atribuidos a Rhinoclemmys (especie indeterminada). Los restos fósiles menos abundantes pertenecen a Testudinidae, con especímenes atribuidos al género Chelonoidis (especie indeterminada). Estos fósiles muestran que la costa norte del Perú tenía ecosistemas que permitieron la abundancia de tortugas acuáticas y terrestres durante el Pleistoceno, en áreas donde hoy están completamente ausentes
Nancy A. Albury - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The paleoecology and extinction of endemic tortoises in the Bahamian Archipelago
The Holocene, 2019Co-Authors: David W. Steadman, Nancy A. Albury, Richard Franz, Lizabeth A Carlson, Michelle J. Lefebvre, Brian Kakuk, William F. KeeganAbstract:No native species of tortoises (Chelonoidis spp.) live today in the Bahamian (Lucayan) Archipelago (= The Bahamas + The Turks and Caicos Islands), although a number of species inhabited these islan...
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Fossil Land Tortoises (Testudines: Testudinidae) from the Dominican Republic, West Indies, with a Description of a New Species
American Museum Novitates, 2018Co-Authors: Nancy A. Albury, Richard Franz, Phillip. Lehman, Renato Rímoli, Alfred L. RosenbergerAbstract:A new fossil tortoise, Chelonoidis dominicensis, is described from a flooded cave in La Altagracia Province in the southeastern Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola. The holotype, and only known specimen, includes a nearly complete shell, skull, and appendicular skeleton. The new Dominican species, Chelonoidis dominicensis, shares morphological features with the Bahamian tortoise, Chelonoidis alburyorum, and the Cuban tortoise, Chelonoidis cubensis. Chelonoidis dominicensis can be distinguished from C. alburyorum by its weak prognathous-shaped rostrum, stronger and sharper vomerine septum, more angular posterior skull margins, distinctive caudal hump as seen in shell profile, the centrum of first dorsal vertebra narrow without a strong ventral keel, massive sacral buttresses, weak presacral and sacral ribs, more tapered anterior plastral lobe with prominent gulars, elevated gular shelf. An interclavicular sculpture (bird face) occurs on the internal surface of the entoplastron, composed of a massive brow-line and an elongated, narrow keel (beak). Chelonoidis dominicensis is distinguished from C. cubensis (based on incomplete specimens), by its more narrow anterior plastral lobe and gulars, oval entoplastron, a strong wedge-shaped xiphiplastral notch, and a slight indentation at the junction of the cervical sulcus. The West Indian tortoises are allied with Galapagos tortoises, Chelonoidis nigra species complex, and possibly Chaco tortoises, Chelonoidis chilensis, based on morphology. These relationships are further supported by DNA evidence.A second tortoise, Chelonoidis marcanoi, was recently named from dry caves in Pedernales Province, in the southwestern part of the country. The designated holotype for C. marcanoi is a right humerus, but this element is inadequate to differentiate taxa in the West Indian genus Chelonoidis; thus, we consider C. marcanoi a nomen dubium. The concept of multiple populations of tortoises on Hispaniola has merit and is discussed in terms of biotic patterns associated with south and north paleo-islands, which are separated from each other by the Hispaniolan Rift Valley.
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Tropical ancient DNA reveals relationships of the extinct Bahamian giant tortoise Chelonoidis alburyorum.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2017Co-Authors: Christian Kehlmaier, Nancy A. Albury, Richard Franz, David W. Steadman, Axel Barlow, Alexander K. Hastings, Melita Vamberger, Johanna L. A. Paijmans, Michael Hofreiter, Uwe FritzAbstract:Ancient DNA of extinct species from the Pleistocene and Holocene has provided valuable evolutionary insights. However, these are largely restricted to mammals and high latitudes because DNA preservation in warm climates is typically poor. In the tropics and subtropics, non-avian reptiles constitute a significant part of the fauna and little is known about the genetics of the many extinct reptiles from tropical islands. We have reconstructed the near-complete mitochondrial genome of an extinct giant tortoise from the Bahamas (Chelonoidis alburyorum) using an approximately 1 000-year-old humerus from a water-filled sinkhole (blue hole) on Great Abaco Island. Phylogenetic and molecular clock analyses place this extinct species as closely related to Galapagos (C. niger complex) and Chaco tortoises (C. chilensis), and provide evidence for repeated overseas dispersal in this tortoise group. The ancestors of extant Chelonoidis species arrived in South America from Africa only after the opening of the Atlantic Ocean and dispersed from there to the Caribbean and the Galapagos Islands. Our results also suggest that the anoxic, thermally buffered environment of blue holes may enhance DNA preservation, and thus are opening a window for better understanding evolution and population history of extinct tropical species, which would likely still exist without human impact.
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Domination by Reptiles in a Terrestrial Food Web of the Bahamas Prior to Human Occupation
Journal of Herpetology, 2014Co-Authors: Alexander K. Hastings, David W. Steadman, John Krigbaum, Nancy A. AlburyAbstract:Abstract Human activities in the Bahamas and other oceanic islands have damaged terrestrial ecosystems irreparably through the extinction of indigenous species. Tortoise and crocodile bones from Abaco Island in the Bahamas sampled for 14C-dating revealed a small overlap between the last occurrence of these large reptiles and early human settlement in the Bahamas. Before their extermination approximately 1,000 years ago, the dominant herbivore and carnivore on Abaco Island were the endemic Albury's Tortoise (Chelonoidis alburyorum) and the formerly widespread Cuban Crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer). Stable isotope data from carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) in bone collagen from Late Holocene fossils suggest that these large reptiles were part of a terrestrial rather than marine or estuarine food web. Our proposal that Cuban Crocodiles were once the apex terrestrial predator in the Bahamas is supported by comparisons with published δ13C values for modern marine/estuarine crocodylians as compared to those of...
Ryan C. Garrick - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Identification of Genetically Important Individuals of the Rediscovered Floreana Galápagos Giant Tortoise (Chelonoidis elephantopus) Provide Founders for Species Restoration Program.
Scientific Reports, 2017Co-Authors: Joshua M. Miller, Ryan C. Garrick, Michael A. Russello, James P. Gibbs, Nikos Poulakakis, Maud C. Quinzin, Danielle L. Edwards, Luciano B. Beheregaray, Claudio Ciofi, Elizabeth A. HunterAbstract:Species are being lost at an unprecedented rate due to human-driven environmental changes. The cases in which species declared extinct can be revived are rare. However, here we report that a remote volcano in the Galapagos Islands hosts many giant tortoises with high ancestry from a species previously declared as extinct: Chelonoidis elephantopus or the Floreana tortoise. Of 150 individuals with distinctive morphology sampled from the volcano, genetic analyses revealed that 65 had C. elephantopus ancestry and thirty-two were translocated from the volcano’s slopes to a captive breeding center. A genetically informed captive breeding program now being initiated will, over the next decades, return C. elephantopus tortoises to Floreana Island to serve as engineers of the island’s ecosystems. Ironically, it was the haphazard translocations by mariners killing tortoises for food centuries ago that created the unique opportunity to revive this “lost” species today.
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Reviving A Lost Species: The Case Of The Floreana Galapagos Giant Tortoise Chelonoidis elephantopus
2017Co-Authors: Joshua M. Miller, Ryan C. Garrick, Michael A. Russello, James P. Gibbs, Nikos Poulakakis, Maud C. Quinzin, Danielle L. Edwards, Luciano B. Beheregaray, Claudio Ciofi, Elizabeth A. HunterAbstract:Species are being lost at an unprecedented rate due to human-driven environmental changes. The cases in which species declared extinct can be revived are extremely rare. However, here we report that a remote volcano in the Galapagos Islands hosts many giant tortoises with extremely high ancestry from a species previously declared as extinct: Chelonoidis elephantopus or the Floreana tortoise. Of 150 individuals with distinctive morphology sampled from the volcano, genetic analyses revealed that 65 had C. elephantopus ancestry. Thirty-two were translocated from the volcano9s slopes to a captive breeding center. A genetically informed captive breeding program now being initiated will, over the next decades, return C. elephantopus tortoises to Floreana Island to serve as engineers of the island9s ecosystems. Ironically, it was the haphazard translocations by mariners killing tortoises for food centuries ago that created the unique opportunity to revive this “lost” species today.
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Description of a New Galapagos Giant Tortoise Species (Chelonoidis; Testudines: Testudinidae) from Cerro Fatal on Santa Cruz Island
PLOS ONE, 2015Co-Authors: Nikos Poulakakis, Ryan C. Garrick, Edgar Benavides, Michael A. Russello, Ylenia Chiari, Washington Tapia, Danielle L. Edwards, Gregory J. Watkins-colwell, Scott Glaberman, James P. GibbsAbstract:The taxonomy of giant Galapagos tortoises (Chelonoidis spp.) is currently based primarily on morphological characters and island of origin. Over the last decade, compelling genetic evidence has accumulated for multiple independent evolutionary lineages, spurring the need for taxonomic revision. On the island of Santa Cruz there is currently a single named species, C. porteri. Recent genetic and morphological studies have shown that, within this taxon, there are two evolutionarily and spatially distinct lineages on the western and eastern sectors of the island, known as the Reserva and Cerro Fatal populations, respectively. Analyses of DNA from natural populations and museum specimens, including the type specimen for C. porteri, confirm the genetic distinctiveness of these two lineages and support elevation of the Cerro Fatal tortoises to the rank of species. In this paper, we identify DNA characters that define this new species, and infer evolutionary relationships relative to other species of Galapagos tortoises.
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The genetic legacy of Lonesome George survives: Giant tortoises with Pinta Island ancestry identified in Galápagos
Biological Conservation, 2013Co-Authors: Danielle L. Edwards, Ryan C. Garrick, Edgar Benavides, Michael A. Russello, James P. Gibbs, Kirstin Dion, Chaz Hyseni, Washington Tapia, Joseph P. Flanagan, Adalgisa CacconeAbstract:The death of Lonesome George, the last known purebred individual of Chelonoidis abingdoni native to Pinta Island, marked the extinction of one of 10 surviving giant tortoise species from the Galapagos Archipelago. Using a DNA reference dataset including historical C. abingdoni and >1600 living Volcano Wolf tortoise samples, a site on Isabela Island known to harbor hybrid tortoises, we discovered 17 individuals with ancestry in C. abingdoni. These animals belong to various hybrid categories, including possible first generation hybrids, and represent multiple, unrelated individuals. Their ages and relative abundance suggest that additional hybrids and conceivably purebred C. abingdoni individuals still occur on Volcano Wolf. Spatial analyses suggest locations where additional individuals with C. abingdoni ancestry are most likely to be recovered, consistent with historical records of human movement of tortoises. These results provide an opportunity for species recovery of Pinta Island tortoises using individuals with C. abingdoni ancestry.
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Genetic rediscovery of an ‘extinct’ Galápagos giant tortoise species
Current Biology, 2012Co-Authors: Ryan C. Garrick, Edgar Benavides, Michael A. Russello, James P. Gibbs, Nikos Poulakakis, Kirstin Dion, Chaz Hyseni, Brittney Kajdacsi, Marquez, Sarah BahanAbstract:Summary Genes from recently extinct species can live on in the genomes of extant individuals of mixed ancestry. Recently, genetic signatures of the giant Galapagos tortoise once endemic to Floreana Island ( Chelonoidis elephantopus ) were detected within eleven hybrid individuals of otherwise pure Chelonoidis becki on Volcano Wolf, Isabela Island [1]. Movement of tortoises between islands by pirate and whaling ships was not uncommon during the 1800s [2], representing a likely mechanism by which individuals from Floreana were translocated to northern Isabela, despite being presumed extinct soon after Charles Darwin's historic voyage to the Galapagos Islands in 1835. These eleven hybrid individuals with C. elephantopus ancestry were thought to be the last genetic vestiges of a unique evolutionary lineage in the wild. Here, we report that reproductively mature purebred tortoises of the recently ‘extinct' C. elephantopus from Floreana Island are very likely still alive today, as identified and tracked through the genetic footprints left in the genomes of very recent hybrid offspring on Volcano Wolf. If found, these purebred C. elephantopus individuals could constitute core founders of a captive breeding program directed towards resurrecting this species.