Reptilia - Testudines - Testudinidae
Etymology. Named after the Greek word (hellenic, adj. of Hellas Greece) meaning from Greece. The name of this new species was already mentioned at the congress communication of the same authors in 2017, but it must be considered as a nomen nudum because the species was not described according to the rules of the ICZN code. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3036B41A-88AE4BE5-ADEE-C7F4C11AC0A1
Full reference: G. Garcia, A. Pinton, X. Valentin, D. S. Kostopoulos, G. Merceron, L. Bonis, and G. D. Koufos. 2020. The earliest known crown-Testudo tortoise from the late Miocene (Vallesian, 9 Ma) of Greece. PLoS ONE 15(e0224783):1-15
Belongs to Testudo according to E. Vlachos 2021
See also Garcia et al. 2020
Sister taxa: Testudo (Chersine), Testudo (Stylemys), Testudo amberiacensis, Testudo amiatae, Testudo antakyensis, Testudo antiqua, Testudo atlas, Testudo bosporica, Testudo brevitesta, Testudo brontops, Testudo burgenlandica, Testudo carinata, Testudo cautleyi, Testudo cernovi, Testudo changshanensis, Testudo chienfutungensis, Testudo costarricensis, Testudo craverii, Testudo denizoti, Testudo despotti, Testudo emys, Testudo escheri, Testudo eurysternum, Testudo floweri, Testudo geometrica, Testudo globosa, Testudo graeca, Testudo hermanni, Testudo hexagonata, Testudo hipparionum, Testudo honanensis, Testudo houzei, Testudo hypercostata, Testudo hypselonota, Testudo ibera, Testudo indica, Testudo kalksburgensis, Testudo kenitrensis, Testudo kleinmanni, Testudo lamanonii, Testudo larteti, Testudo lohanica, Testudo lunanensis, Testudo lutaria, Testudo margae, Testudo marginata, Testudo marmorum, Testudo nanus, Testudo neraudii, Testudo oughlamensis, Testudo pecorinii, Testudo phosphoritarum, Testudo promarginata, Testudo pusilla, Testudo scabra, Testudo shansiensis, Testudo sharanensis, Testudo shensiensis, Testudo shilouensis, Testudo sloanei, Testudo sphaerica, Testudo steinheimensis, Testudo tarakliensis, Testudo terrestris, Testudo tunhuanensis, Testudo ulanensis, Testudo weissingeri, Testudo yunnanensis
Type specimen: LGPUT RPI-216, a shell (nearly complete carapace with plastron). Its type locality is Ravin de la Pluie, which is in a Vallesian terrestrial sandstone/gravel in the Nea Messimvria Formation of Greece.
Ecology: ground dwelling herbivore-herbivore
Distribution: found only at Ravin de la Pluie
Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.
Click image to enlarge. Click to access iDigBio record.