The Gran Canaria giant tortoise (''Centrochelys vulcanica'') is an extinct species of

cryptodire The Cryptodira ('' el, hidden neck'') are a suborder of Testudines that includes most living tortoises and turtles. Cryptodira differ from Pleurodira (side-necked turtles) in that they lower their necks and pull the heads straight back into the ...

turtle in the family Testudinidae endemic to the island of Gran Canaria, in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

Characteristics

This is one of the two described species of giant tortoises that inhabited the Canary Islands from the Miocene to the upper Pleistocene. The other species is '' C. burchardi'', from the island of Tenerife. ''C. vulcanica'' was described by López-Jurado & Mateo in 1993. It is believed that the ancestors of these two species of giant tortoises reached the Canary Islands from North Africa. The majority of ''C. vulcanica'' fossils are of eggs and nests ranging in age from the Miocene until Pliocene. Bones and shells are known from the Miocene to the Upper Pleistocene. The maximum shell length is up to 61 centimeters, make it slightly smaller than ''C. burchardi'', which had a shell length range of 65 to 94 cm. Fossilized tortoise eggs have been found in the islands of

Lanzarote Lanzarote (, , ) is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. It is located approximately off the north coast of Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering , Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the i ...

and

Fuerteventura Fuerteventura () is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the North Africa region, and politically part of Spain. It is located away from the northwestern coast of Africa. The island was declared a biosphere reserve by UNES ...

; however, these eggs have not yet been properly described or named. The Fuerteventura fossils have been linked to ''C. burchardi'', but this identification is uncertain, and has been challenged.The Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database Extinct Reptiles: Geochelone
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References

{{Testudinidae Miocene turtles Geochelone Extinct reptiles Reptiles of the Canary Islands Pliocene turtles Pleistocene turtles Miocene species first appearances Pleistocene species extinctions Fossil taxa described in 1993

Characteristics

See also

References