A team of researchers from different international institutions has announced the discovery on the island of Santa Cruz, the second largest in the Galapagos archipelago, of a new species of giant tortoise. Until now it was thought that it was only populated by specimens of Chelonoidis porteri , large chelonians with black and oval shells that can exceed one meter in length.
However, a detailed genetic study has made it possible to determine that those that inhabit the east of the island constitute a different species. Scientists, coordinated by Adalgisa Caccone, from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, estimate that between 250 and 300 of these turtles survive, which they have named Chelonoidis donfaustoi .
With this name they have wanted to pay tribute to Fausto Llerena, the caretaker who for 40 years took care of Solitario George, the last known specimen of the giant Pinta tortoise, Chelonoidis abingdonii , who died in 2012 (it is believed that, at that time, he had between 93 and 109 years).
Caccone and his collaborators have thus culminated a study that began in 2002, when scientists observed that the shells in some Santa Cruz tortoises were formed in a different way. In 2005, after some tests, there were already preliminary results that suggested that it was a new species. Now, researchers have confirmed that this is indeed the case, and indicate that the next step is to know exactly its distribution on the island, as well as its nesting areas and main threats.
The Chelonoidis donfaustoi has become the fifteenth species of tortoise identified in the Galapagos, a group of islands and small rocky outcrops famous for its biodiversity located about 1,000 kilometers west of Ecuador.
