Morphological and phylogeographic analysis of Brazilian tortoises (Testudinidae)

• Published in: Genetics and molecular research Vol. 14; no. 4; pp. 18604 - 18606
• Main Authors: Silva, T L, Venancio, L PR, Bonini-Domingos, C R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2015
• Subjects: Testudinidae
• ISSN: 1676-5680; 1676-5680
• DOI: 10.4238/2015.December.28.8

The discriminative potentials of biogeography, vocalization, morphology, cytogenetics, hemoglobin, and molecular profiling of cytochrome b as taxonomic techniques for differentiating Brazilian tortoises were evaluated in this study. In Brazil, two species of tortoises are described, Chelonoidis carbonarius and Chelonoidis denticulatus. However, in the present study, some animals that were initially recognized based on morphological characters and coloring did not correspond to the typical pattern of C. carbonarius; these animals were classified as morphotypes 1 and 2. It was proposed that these morphotypes are differentiated species, and they should not be considered as a single taxonomic unit with C. carbonarius. Tortoises analyzed were provided by the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA); the Emilio Goeldi Museum, PA; municipal zoos in Sao Jose do Rio Preto, SP, and Aracatuba, SP; and the Reginaldo Uvo Leone breeding farm for Wild and Exotic Animals, Tabapua, SP. Based on the data obtained using biogeographic evaluation of specimens in the literature, it was found that C.