Revision of the fossil land tortoises (Testudines: Testudinidae) from Hispaniola with the description of a new species

Abstract

The genus of land tortoises Chelonoidis had a wide distribution across the Caribbean and Bahamian Archipelago during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Two extinct species of this genus, C. marcanoi Turvey et al., 2017 and C. dominicensis Albury et al., 2018 were recently described from fossils collected in deposits in the southwest and east of the Dominican Republic respectively. Here we review the taxonomic status of Chelonoidis species from Hispaniola based on previously described remains along with new specimens recently collected. More diagnostic elements collected from cave deposits in the southwest Dominican Republic indicate that C. marcanoi is a senior synonym of C. dominicensis. This species was distributed across the south of eastern Hispaniola, including the Northern and Southeast Paleo-island. The new collection of fossils from the Pedernales rigion also includes associated elements of an undescribed species, Chelonoidis gersoni sp. nov., closely related to C. cubensis and C. marcanoi. The triangular-shaped gular projection of the epiplastron of this new species of Chelonoidis is unique among tortoises of this genus.