Pelusios castaneus seychellensis Siebenrock, 1906:38
Seychelles black terrapin, Seychelles mud turtle, Seychelles terrapin
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Pelusios seychellensis Siebenrock, 1906:38; Pelusios subniger seychellensis Siebenrock, 1906:38; Sternothaerus nigricans seychellensis Siebenrock, 1906:38
This subpecies is now known to be synonymous with Pelusios (castaneus) castaneus (Stuckas et al., 2013).
Conservation Status
Invalid (synonym of typical Pelusios castaneus) (Stuckas et al., 2013)
Last record: 1895 (Gerlach, 2003); 1895-1896 (Stuckas et al., 2013)
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution & Habitat
Seychelles (Mahé?)
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Three specimens are known, all collected in 1895 (Gerlach, 2003).
Media
Above: dorsal (left) and ventral aspect (right) of the lectotype of Pelusios seychellensis. Young female, Natural History Museum Vienna, Austria (NHMW 13247). The arrow indicates the hole drilled in the shell margin (see text). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057116.g002
References
Original scientific description:
Siebenrock, F. (1906). Schildkroten von Ostafrika und Madagaskar. In: Voeltzkow, A. Reise in Ost-Afrika in den Jahren 1903-1905 mit Mitteln der Hermann und Elise geb. Heckmann-Wentzel-Stiftung. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse. Systematischen Arbeiten. Stuttgart 2: 1-40.
Other references:
Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (eds). 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. pp. 378. International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Bour, Roger. (1983). Trois populations endémiques du genre Pelusios (Reptilia, Chelonii, Pelomedusidae) aux îles Seychelles; relations avec les espèces africaines et malgaches. Bulletin du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris (4)5A: 343-382.
Bour, Roger. (2013). Actualités chez les tortues des Seychelles. Chéloniens 29: 27-41.
Bour, R. and Gerlach J. (2008). Pelusios seychellensis (Siebenrock 1906)-Seychelles mud turtle. In: Rhodin, A. G. J., Pritchard, P. C. H, van Dijk, P. P., Saumure, R. A., Buhlmann, K. A., and Iverson, J. B. (Eds.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Monographs No. 5, pp. 018.1-018.3.
Broadley, D. G. (1981). A review of the genus Pelusios Wagler in southern Africa (Pleurodira: Pelomedusidae). Occasional Papers of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia, B. Natural Sciences 6(9): 633-686.
Gerlach, Justin. (2002). Seychelles Terrapin Action Plan. Phelsuma 10B: 1-16.
Gerlach, Justin. (2003). Pelusios seychellensis. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 28 July 2012.
Gerlach, Justin. (2003). Pelusios seychellensis (errata version published in 2016). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2003: e.T16527A97386102. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T16527A5998317.en. Accessed on 30 June 2022.
Gerlach, Justin. (2012). Red Listing reveals the true state of biodiversity: a comprehensive assessment of Seychelles biodiversity. Phelsuma 20: 9-22.
Gerlach, Justin and Canning, K. L. (1996). The rediscovery of Pelusios seychellensis. Phelsuma 4: 68-69.
Gerlach, Justin and Canning, L. (2001). Range contractions in the Critically Endangered Seychelles terrapins (Pelusios spp.). Oryx 35(4): 313-321.
Groombridge, B. (ed.). (1994). IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Grünwaldt, P. H. (1980). Liste der Schildkröten der herpetologischen Sammlung des Zoologischen Instituts und Zoologischen Museum der Universität Hamburg. (Testudines, Reptilia). Bestandslisten der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Zoologischen Instituts und Zoologischen Museums des Universität Hamburg (1): 1-19.
Hallermann, J. (1998). Annotated catalogue of the type specimens of the herpetological collection in the Zoological Museum of the University of Hamburg. Mitteilungen aus dem Hamburgischen Zoologischen Museum und Institut 95: 197-223.
IUCN. (1990). 1990 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
IUCN. (2003). 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 18 November 2003.
IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. (1988). IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Iverson, John B. (1992). A Revised Checklist with Distribution Maps of the Turtles of the World. Privately printed, Richmond, Indiana. 363 pp.
Iverson, John B. (2022). A review of Chelonian type specimens (order Testudines). Megataxa 7(1): 1-85. https://doi.org/10.11646/megataxa.7.1.1
Kindler, C., Moosig, M., Branch, W.R., Harvey, J., Kehlmaier, C., Nagys, Z.T., Prokop, H., šiorký, P. & Fritz, U. (2016). Comparative phylogeographies of six species of hinged terrapins (Pelusios spp.) reveal discordant patterns and unexpected differentiation in the P. castaneus /P. chapini complex and P. rhodesianus. Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society 117: 305-321. https://doi.org/10.1111/bij.12647
Regalado, Pedro Galán. (2015). Los Anfibios y Reptiles Extinguidos: Herpetofauna Desaparecida Desde el Año 1500. Monografías de la Universidade da Coruña 155: 1-509.
Stuckas, H., Gemel, R., Fritz, U. (2013). One Extinct Turtle Species Less: Pelusios seychellensis Is Not Extinct, It Never Existed. PLoS ONE 8(4): e57116.
Tiedemann, F. and Häupl, M. (1980). Typenkatalog der herpetologischen Sammlung: Reptilia. Kataloge der Wissenschaftlichen Sammlungen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 4: 1-79.
Tiedemann, F., Häupl, M. and Grillitsch, H. (1994). Katalog der Typen der herpetologischen Sammlung nach dem stand vom 1. Jänner 1994. Teil II. Reptilia. Kataloge der wissenschaftlichen Sammlungen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien, 10(Vertebrata 4): 1-102.
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.
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Vetter, H. (2011). Turtles of the World, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and Western Asia. Second Edition. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt. 152 pp.
Wallerman (1998:211)
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