Seychelles giant tortoise

Seychelles giant tortoise
A living specimen
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Testudinoidea
Family: Testudinidae
Genus: Aldabrachelys
Species:
A. gigantea
Subspecies:
A. g. hololissa
Trinomial name
Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa
(Günther, 1877)
Synonyms[1]
  • Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa GÜNTHER, 1877
  • Testudo hololissa GÜNTHER, 1875: 296 (nomen nudum)
  • Testudo elephantina DUMÉRIL & BIBRON, 1835: 221 (ex errore) — GÜNTHER 1877: 21
  • Testudo hololissa GÜNTHER, 1877: 39 (part.)
  • Testudo gigantea SCHWEIGGER, 1812 (ex errore) ROTHSCHILD 1897: 407
  • Testudo daudinii DUMÉRIL & BIBRON, 1835 (ex errore) ROTHSCHILD 1915: 433
  • Dipsochelys elephantina DUMÉRIL & BIBRON, 1835 — BOUR 1994: 85
  • Dipsochelys hololissa LÜCKER, 2000
  • Geochelone hololissa FRITZ & HAVAS, 2006
  • Dipsochelys hololissa BONIN, (et al) 2006
  • Dipsochelys dussumieri hololissa TTWG, 2010
  • Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa TTWG, 2012

The Seychelles giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa), also known as the Seychelles domed giant tortoise, is a tortoise subspecies in the genus Aldabrachelys.

It inhabited the large central granitic Seychelles islands, but was hunted in vast numbers by European sailors. By around 1840 it was presumed to be extinct, along with the Arnold's giant tortoise, a subspecies which shared the same islands.

It was recently[when?] rediscovered. Currently,[when?] a little over a hundred individuals exist.[citation needed] Many had been reestablished in the wild on forested islands such as Silhouette, but were evicted in 2011 by the Seychelles Islands Development Company.[2]

  1. ^ Aldabrachelys gigantea at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 05 June 2015.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Release was invoked but never defined (see the help page).