2000

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 9, pp. 145-148

Translation: Testudo graeca anamurensis ssp. nov. from Asia MinorHeinz Weissinger
Richard-Gebhardtgasse 4. 3423 St. Andra-Wordern, Austria
Weissinger. H. 1987. Testudo graeca anamurensis
14-18

The South-western

coast of Turkey, from thessp. nov. aus Kleinasien.

OGH-Naehriehten (Wien) 10/1

Bey

mountains near Antalya eastwards up to Mersin is thearea of distribution of a Testudo graeca which is characterizedhyanelongated,trapezium-shapedandstrongly flattened carapace. This southcoast-population

was so conspicuous among the more than 200specimens which I examined and measured in Turkey,
Iconsider them a geographic subspecies andthatdescribe them as follows:

Testudo graeca anamurensis nov. ssp.
Material

NMW 30795:1
Paratypes: One male, Anamurum; NMW 30795:2df
One female. Side; NMW 30795:3
Type: One female. Anamurum;

Both alive in the author's collection

Terra typica
Beach of Anamurum. 7 km. west of Anamur.

SWcoast of Turkey.

Figures 1-3. (Top and bottom left) Testudo graeca
anamurensis ssp. nov.; paratype. female NMWDiagnosis

30795:3.
Differs from Testudo graeca ibera Pallas 1814 by
its considerably

Hatter and narrower (elongated trape-zium-shaped) carapace. The length of the carapace is
two-and-a-half times its height and one-and-a-halfFigure 4. (Bottom right) Testudo gracea. Ssp. anamurensis, male. Anamurum (left); ssp. ibera, female,Koyegegiz (right).

times its width. In most cases the carapace pattern is acompletely broken, obvious blotchy pattern. The plastron has a sharply demarcated pattern of brown toblack blotches, which can cover the plastral area for

20 - 100 7c. In 80 CA of cases, 100% at the terra typica,
the animals have a white-yellow chin and throat. The

Table 1. Measurements (straight-line distance) of thetype specimen and a paratypehead can be uniformly dark to irregularly spotted withyellow. A triangle on the snout
terrestris Forskal-1775 - may be present only in early

juvenile stages. In the subspecies

most abundant in

Asia Minor. Testudo graeca ibera Pallas 1814. thecarapace is oval, domed regularly and has a smooth
posterior margin. Its ground colour is bright olive withlarge yet individual blotches.
ties are

NMW 30795:1

NMW 30795:3

as in Testudo graeca

The head and extremi-

most often uniformly dark. The plastron usu-

ally shows indistinctly bordered blotches.

Carapace

210mm

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Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 9, p. 146

303 tan9

Testudo graeca ibera

C)

Testudo graeca ibera""

lerrestrisO

Testudo graeca

J^

Testudo graeca anamurensis ssp. nov.

""lerrestris1
1ca.
Figure 5. Localities of Testudo graeca in Turkey with dates that tortoises were observed (Weissinger, 986).
70 km NW of Ankara, 5/18; 2, Dogansehir, open oak forest, 5/20; 3, 4 km from Diyabakir, 5/22; 4, 40 km from Margdin; 5, Birecik, 5/24; 6, Nizip, in the direction of Ganziantep, dry wadi, about 45 steep loam walls with tortoise burca. 20 km N. of Iskenderund, 5/26;
kmSofN
20ca.
10
kmofIskenderund,5/25;
9,5/24;8,5/24;
7,rows,Islaniye,,

10, ca. 25 km of Fg, cornfield, 5/26; 1 1,1km from road crossing Ceyhan-Gaziantep, lava field, 5/26; 12, Ayas, 5/Wof27; 13, Korykos-Kizkale, in the direction of Silifke, 5/27; 14, Bozyazi, onion field, 5/28; 15, Anamurum, 7 km
towards
kmof17Pine
ca.
40
5/29;
Anamur,ca.
20
kmofforest,Anamur, 5/29;
Gazipasa,
Anamur, 5/29; 16,WW

18, Side, sand dunes, ruin-meadows, 5/30; 19, 20 km from Antalya, 5/31; 20, 10 km from Antalya, towards Kugla,

m above sea level, towards Kas,
m above sea level, towards Kas, 5/31; 25, Kinis, wheat field, 6/1; 26, Letoon, tilled field, 6/5/31; 21, Kemer, 5/31; 22, 10 km from Kemer, 5/31; 23, Mountain pass, ca. 800
5/31; 24, Vavi, ca. 800

1 27, Esen, pine forest, 6/1
28, Kargi, 6/1 29, Koygegiz, riverine forest with wet meadows 6/2; 30, Ula, 6/2; 31
Gokovalskele, 6/2; 32, Yatagan, 6/2; 33, Soke, towards Kusadasi, 6/2; 34, Selcuk, 6/3; 35, Pamucak, 6/4; 36, 2 km
from Ayvacik, 6/6; 37, 15 km from Ayvacik, 6/6; 38, 20 km from Kesan, towards Greece (European Turkey).
;

;

,;

Etymology
name this South-west coast race after its terra typica.
Anamurum, Testudo graeca anamurensis.

Weissinger's original slides from his widow. The ediwould like to thank Heinz Grillitsch fortors ofAHR

I

Literature Cited

Distribution

The area of distribution of this race extends along
the Southwest coast of Turkey
in thehis assistance in publishing this translation.

from the Bey DaglariWest to the plain of Mersin in the East. Most

were found in the area between Side and Anamurum.

Bodenheimer, F. S. 1935. Animal life in Palestine. An
introduction to the problems of animal ecology andzoogeography. Ludwig Mayer, Jerusalem. 506 pp.

Acknowledgments

Tand Spitzenberger, F. 1967. Ergebnisse
Zoologischer Sammelreisen in derTiirkei: Testudines.
Eiselt.

J.,This translation was provided by Peter Paul van Dijk

(Results of zoological collecting expeditions in TurTestudines) - Annalen des Naturhistorischen
keywith some additions by Heinz Grillitsch. The transla-Museums in Wien. Serie B. fur Botanik und Zoologie

tion was done with the permission and full agreement70: 357-378.

of the Austrian Herpetological Society. Figures 1-4
were provided by Jim Buskirk who, in turn, recieved:

2000

Asiatic Herpetologia.il Research

Figure 6. The type specimen of Testudo graeca ana/ra//-<?/75/5Weissinger 1987,Obst.

F.-J..

NMW 30795:1.

and Meusel. W. 1974. Die Landschild-Vol.9, p. 147

A male paratype of Testudo graeca anamu/ms/sWeissinger 1987, NMW 30795:2.
Figure 7.

Wermuth. H.. and Mertens. R. 1961. Schildkroten -kroten Europas (The tortoises of Europe) A. Ziemsen

KrokodileVerlag. Wittenberg Lutherstadt

Tuatara). Fischer Verlag. Jena 422 pp.

Wermuth. H. 1958. Status und Nomenklatur der Maurischen

Landschildkrote,

Testudograeca,in

SW-Asien und NO-Afrika. (Status & Nomenclature of T.

graecainSW Asia & NE Africa). Senckenbergiana

Biologica. 39:

149-153.

-Briickenechsen. (Turtles. Crocodiles&Werner, F 1902. Die Reptilien- und Amphibienfauna

von Kleinasien. (The reptile and amphibian fauna ofAsia

Minor).

schaften.

Sit/^ungsberichte

Akademie Wissen-Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche

Klasse 111: 1057-1121.

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Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 9, p. 148Appendix
This translation was prepared by Peter Paul van Dijk
withsomeadditions

Heinz Grillitsch

byNaturhistorische Museum Wien (NMW).

of theThis trans-lation is published with the full permission of theAustrian Herpetological Society. In addition to theoriginal figures. Heinz Grillistach and Alice Schuma-cher (NMW) have provided additional figures of theoriginaltype series (Figs.

comm.).

statesparatypesinMuseum

furthat

the

there

6-8).

collections

Tierkunde

Uwe Fritz (pers.

areofDresden

threeadditional

theStaatliches(MTKD

29200-29202). Finally, the female paratype that Weisssinger
lists asNMW 30795

iscurrently catalogued as

NMW31031 (Fritz and Grillitsch, pers. comm).

Figure 8. A female paratype of Testudo graeca anamu31031 (formerly/•ews/sWeissinger 1987,NMW

30795:3).