Testudo hermanni

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Near Threatened

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Habitat

Biome: Terrestrial [1].

Ecology: It prefers open patchy evergreen Mediterranean oak forest , but in its absence inhabits maquis, garigue, dune scrub and maritime grassland, as well as agricultural and railway edge habitats (Stubbs 1989b:35). Females produce one or more clutches of 3-5 eggs per year. Both sexes mature at about nine to 12 years of age, the males maturing a little younger (Stubbs 1989b).[1].

List of Habitats:

•     1     Forest   
  
•     1.4     Forest - Temperate   
  
•     3     Shrubland   
  
•     3.8     Shrubland - Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation   
  
•     14     Artificial/Terrestrial   
  
•     14.2     Artificial/Terrestrial - Pastureland   
  
•     14.4     Artificial/Terrestrial - Rural Gardens   
[more info]

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Eurotestudo hermanni Lapparent De Broin Et Al. 2006 • Protestudo hermanni Chkhikvadze 1970 • Testudo graeca bettai Lataste 1881 • Testudo graeca Boulenger 1889 • Testudo hercegovinensis • Testudo hermanni • Testudo hermanni robertmertensi Wermuth 1952 • Testudo hermanni robertmertensi Forman & Forman 1981 • Testudo hermanni Engelmann Et Al. 1993

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Comment: Holotype: MZUS 121 Testudo hermanni robertmertensi has a yellow patch behind the eye which T. h. hermanni doesn't have. However, Highfield (1992) and others consider robertmertensi as invalid . Eastern populations should be called T. h. boettgeri in Highfields opinion . Interstingly, a recent molecular analysis (PARHAM et al. 2005, 2006) showed that T. hermanni is nested in a clade with Indotestudo, Agrionemys and Malacochersus and thus paraphyletic with respect to other Testudo species. In order to resolve the paraphyly Testudo hermanni may be placed in the genus Agrionemys. Eurotestudo Lapparent de Broin et al., 2006, which was recently erected with the type species T. hermanni, is an objective junior synonym of Chersine Merrem, 1820 and Medaestia Wussow, 1916 according to FRITZ & BININDA-EMONDS (2007).

Two subspecies are currently recognized, T. h. hermanni and T. h. boettgeri (includes hercegovinensis). [1].

Similar Species

Members of the genus Testudo

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 14 species and subspecies in this genus:

T. graeca (Common Tortoise) · T. graeca anamurensis (Spur-Thighed Tortoise) · T. graeca graeca (Mediterranean Spur-Thighed Tortoise) · T. graeca var. boettgeri (Mediterranean Spur-Thighed Tortoise) · T. hermanni (Hermann's Tortoise) · T. hermanni hermanni (Western Hermann's Tortoise) · T. horsfieldii (Afghan Tortoise) · T. graeca subsp. ibera (Mediterranean Spur-Thighed Tortoise) · T. kleinmanni (Egyptian Tortoise) · T. marginata (Marginated Tortoise) · T. marginata marginata (Marginated Tortoise) · T. graeca subsp. graeca (Mediterranean Spur-Thighed Tortoise) · T. nabeulensis (Nabeul Tortoise) · T. werneri (Negev Tortoise)

More Info

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Further Reading

• 1994 IUCN red list of threatened animals Gland, Switzerland: IUCN, 1993 url p. 75.
• Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, -1965. url p. 129, p. 97.
• Asiatic herpetological research. 8 1999 Berkeley, Calif.: Asiatic Herpetological Research Society; c1990- url p. 79.
• Biological structure and function; proceedings. Edited by T.W. Goodwin [and] O. Lindberg. London, Academic Press, 1961 url p. 623.
• Breviora. 1960 Cambridge, Mass.: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, [1952- url p. 2.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 115 1957 Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, 1863- url fig. 25, page 281, p. 555.
• Checklist of CITES Species CITES, WCMC url p. 230.
• Checklist of CITES Species: a reference to the appendices to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES url p. 144, p. 226, p. 228, p. 238, p. 240.
• Checklist of herpetofauna listed in the CITES appendices and in EC Regulation 338/97 JNCC url p. 5.
• Checklist of reptiles and amphibians listed in the CITES appendices and in EC Regulation 338/97 JNCC url p. 103, p. 104, p. 8, p. 93, p. 95.
• Checklists for the CORINE Biotopes Programme and its application in the PHARE countries of Central and East Europe: including comparisons with relevant conventions and agreements on the conservation of European species and habitats EC url p. 102, p. 11.
• Current bibliography for aquatic sciences and fisheries. London, Taylor & Francis ltd. url p. 480.
• Directory of Wetlands of International Importance. IUCN url p. 268.
• Effects of highways on wildlife and fish with special reference to Montana a ProCite literature collection / Bozeman, Mont.: Fish and Wildlife Management Program, Montana State University, 2001 url .
• General embryological information service. Utrecht, Hubrecht Laboratory. url p. 216.
• Natural history notes on nesting, nests, and hatchling emergence in the red-eared slider turtle, trachemys scripta elegans, in west-central Illinois / John K. Tucker. Champaign, Ill.: Illinois Natural History Survey, [1997] url .
• Occasional papers of the California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, url , p. 19.
• Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Washington, Biological Society of Washington url p. 571, p. 579.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. url p. 514.
• Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and financial report of the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents for the year ending June 30. .. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1933-1965. url p. 129.
• Significant Trade in Wildlife: a review of selected species in CITES Appendix II. Volume 2: reptiles and invertebrates IUCN, CITES url p. 25.
• Smithsonian year: annual report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year ended Sept. 30. .. 1984 City of Washington: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1980-2001. url p. 502.
• Spixiana. Mnchen: Zoologische Staatssammlung Mnchen, 1977- url p. 343.
• The Biological bulletin. Woods Hole, Mass.: Marine Biological Laboratory, url p. 376.
• The Canadian field-naturalist. Ottawa, Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club. url p. 182, p. 184, p. 764.
• The IUCN Amphibia-Reptilia Red Data Book. Part 1 Testudines Crocodylia and Rhynchocephalia IUCN url p. 127, p. 130, p. 131, p. 136, p. 23, p. 24, p. 25, p. 424.
• The biology of senescence. New York, Rinehart, 1956. url p. 52.
• World Checklist of Threatened Amphibians and Reptiles Joint Nature Conservation Committee url p. 19, p. 78, p. 85, p. 90, p. 93, p. 96.

Notes

Contributors

• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed February 1, 2012.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed February 27, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 4 providers.
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.
• TIGR Reptile Database . Release date: October 2, 2007
• Tortoise & Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group 1996. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group 1996. Testudo hermanni. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org . Downloaded on 20 October 2006.
• Uetz, Peter. The Reptile Database
• van Dijk, P.P., Corti, C., Mellado, V.P. & Cheylan, M. 2004. Testudo hermanni. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 05February2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 27, 2008:

• European Environment Agency: EUNIS
• Marine Science Institute, UCSB: Paleobiology Database
• Museum of Vertebrate Zoology: Terrestrial vertebrate specimens
• University of Navarra, Museum of Zoology: Museum of Zoology, University of Navarra

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 1
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Rep-7112
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 551866
• IUCN ID: 245785
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 12082

Footnotes

1. van Dijk, P.P., Corti, C., Mellado, V.P. & Cheylan, M. 2004. Testudo hermanni. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 05 February 2012. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.