Geochelone burchardi Ahl, 1926:575
Tenerife giant tortoise, Burchard's tortoise (proposed)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Testudo burchardi Ahl, 1926; Testudo buchardi Ahl, 1926 (typographical error); Centrochelys burchardi (Ahl, 1926)
Conservation Status
Extinct (Fernández-Palacios et al., 2025)
Last record: Late Pleistocene (Middle Pleistocene?)
Distribution & Habitat
Teneriffe, Canary Islands, North Africa
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Ahl, E. (1926). Über eine ausgestorbene Riesenschildkróte der Insel Teneriffa. Z. dt. geol. Ges. 77A(4): 575-580.
Other references:
Auffenberg, W. (1974). Checklist of fossil tortoises (Testudinidae). Bull. Florida State Mus. 18: 121-251.
Bravo, T. and Coello, J. (1975). Sedimentos con sienitas nefelínicas en Tenerife. Estudios Geologicos 31: 501-511.
Burchard O. 1934. Testudo burchardii, el primer gran fósil descubierto en Canarias. Monografías Inst Estudios Canarios. Sección Biol. 1:1–15.
Fernández-Palacios, José María, Fructuoso, Melania, Illera, Juan Carlos, Rando, Juan Carlos, de Nascimento, Lea, Fernández-Palacios, Enrique, Patiño, Jairo, Otto, Rüdiger, Castilla-Beltrán, Álvaro, González, Esther Martín, Orihuela-Rivero, Raúl, Alcover, Josep Antoni, Whittaker, Robert J. (2025). A synthesis of terrestrial species extinctions in the Macaronesian Islands and their correspondence with human occupancy. PNAS Nexus 4(8): pgaf215. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf215 [Supplementary data (.docx)]
HUTTERER, R., F. GARCÍA-TALAVERA, N. LÓPEZ-MARTÍNEZ & J. MICHAUX (1998). Nuevoshuevos de quelonios del Terciario de Lanzarote y Fuerteventura, y revisión de las tortugasfósiles de las islas Canarias (Reptilia, Testudinidae). Vieraea 26: 139-161.
Turtle Extinctions Working Group et al. (2015). Turtles and Tortoises of the World During the Rise and Global Spread of Humanity: First Checklist and Review of Extinct Pleistocene and Holocene Chelonians. Chelonian Research Monographs No. 5: 1-66.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geochelone_burchardi