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Cylindraspis
''Cylindraspis'' is a genus of recently extinct giant tortoises. All of its species lived in the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, Rodrigues and Réunion) in the Indian Ocean and all are now extinct due to hunting and introduction of non-native predators. They are not closely related to any extant group of tortoises, having diverged from the largely African clade including ''Chelonoidis'', ''Geochelone'', and ''Astrochelys'' around 40 million years ago during the Eocene, most likely in Africa. The split between species within the genus is also deep, with the split between '' C. triserrata'' and all other members of the genus being estimated at around 28 million years ago, during the Oligocene, before the current Mascarene Islands were even formed, meaning that the genus must have colonised the Mascarenes by island hopping from now submerged paleoislands formed by the Réunion hotspot as part of the Mascarene Plateau, including the Saya de Malha Bank and Nazareth Bank. Human settler ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cylindraspis Vosmaeri
The saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise (''Cylindraspis vosmaeri)'' is an extinct species of giant tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species was endemic to Rodrigues. Human exploitation caused the extinction of this species around 1800. Etymology The specific name, ''vosmaeri'', is in honor of Dutch naturalist Arnout Vosmaer (1720–1799). Taxonomy Both ''Cylindraspis vosmaeri'' and its smaller domed relative, ''Cylindraspis peltastes'', were descended from an ancestral species on Mauritius (an ancestor of '' Cylindraspis inepta''), which colonised Rodrigues by sea many millions of years ago, and then gradually differentiated into the two Rodrigues species. Description The saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise was an exceptionally tall species of giant tortoise, with a long, raised neck and an upturned carapace, which gave it a giraffe-like body shape almost similar to that of a sauropod dinosaur. It lived by browsing the taller vegetation, while its much smaller ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saddle-backed Rodrigues Giant Tortoise
The saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise (''Cylindraspis vosmaeri)'' is an extinct species of giant tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species was endemic to Rodrigues. Human exploitation caused the extinction of this species around 1800. Etymology The specific name, ''vosmaeri'', is in honor of Dutch naturalist Arnout Vosmaer (1720–1799). Taxonomy Both ''Cylindraspis vosmaeri'' and its smaller domed relative, ''Cylindraspis peltastes'', were descended from an ancestral species on Mauritius (an ancestor of ''Cylindraspis inepta''), which colonised Rodrigues by sea many millions of years ago, and then gradually differentiated into the two Rodrigues species. Description The saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise was an exceptionally tall species of giant tortoise, with a long, raised neck and an upturned carapace, which gave it a giraffe-like body shape almost similar to that of a sauropod dinosaur. It lived by browsing the taller vegetation, while its much smaller r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Réunion Giant Tortoise
The Reunion giant tortoise (''Cylindraspis indica'') is an extinct species of giant tortoise in the family Testudinidae. It was endemic to Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean. This giant tortoise was numerous in the 17th and early 18th centuries. They were killed in vast numbers by European sailors, and finally became extinct in the 1840s. Description The Réunion giant tortoise was 50 to 110 cm long. It was the largest of the ''Cylindraspis'' giant tortoise species of the Mascarenes. It was roughly the same size as modern Aldabra giant and Galapagos giant tortoises, though it was a longer and more elongated animal. It had long legs and a long neck which supported a large head with powerful, strongly-serrated jaws. The species was sexually dimorphic, in that males were noticeably larger than females. It was also a highly variable species. A problem arises when identifying this species because it appears there were domed variants as well as saddle-backed variants. Distr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cylindraspis
''Cylindraspis'' is a genus of recently extinct giant tortoises. All of its species lived in the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, Rodrigues and Réunion) in the Indian Ocean and all are now extinct due to hunting and introduction of non-native predators. They are not closely related to any extant group of tortoises, having diverged from the largely African clade including ''Chelonoidis'', ''Geochelone'', and ''Astrochelys'' around 40 million years ago during the Eocene, most likely in Africa. The split between species within the genus is also deep, with the split between '' C. triserrata'' and all other members of the genus being estimated at around 28 million years ago, during the Oligocene, before the current Mascarene Islands were even formed, meaning that the genus must have colonised the Mascarenes by island hopping from now submerged paleoislands formed by the Réunion hotspot as part of the Mascarene Plateau, including the Saya de Malha Bank and Nazareth Bank. Human settler ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domed Mauritius Giant Tortoise
The domed Mauritius giant tortoise (''Cylindraspis triserrata'') is an extinct species of giant tortoise. It was endemic to Mauritius. Description One of two different giant tortoise species which were endemic to Mauritius, this domed species seems to have specialised in grazing of grass, as well as fallen leaves and fruit on forest floors. Its sister species was likely a browser of higher branches, and although similarly sized, the two species differed substantially in their body shape and bone structure. The domed species had a flatter, rounder shape, with thinner bones and shell. The species name ''triserrata'' actually refers to the three bony ridges on this animal's mandibles - possibly a specialisation for its diet. Extinction This species was previously numerous throughout Mauritius - both on the main island and on all of the surrounding islets. As Mauritius was the first of the Mascarene Islands to be settled, it was also the first to face the extermination of its bio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tortoises
Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like other members of the suborder Cryptodira, they retract their necks and heads directly backward into the shell to protect them. Tortoises can vary in size with some species, such as the Galápagos giant tortoise, growing to more than in length, whereas others like the Speckled cape tortoise have shells that measure only long. Several lineages of tortoises have independently evolved very large body sizes in excess of 100 kg, including the Galapagos giant tortoise and the Aldabra giant tortoise. They are usually diurnal animals with tendencies to be crepuscular depending on the ambient temperatures. They are generally reclusive animals. Tortoises are the longest-living land animals in the world, although the longest-living species of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saddle-backed Mauritius Giant Tortoise
The saddle-backed Mauritius giant tortoise (''Cylindraspis inepta'') is an extinct species of giant tortoise in the family Testudinidae. It was endemic to Mauritius. The last records of this tortoise date to the early 18th century. Description One of two different giant tortoise species which were endemic to Mauritius, this saddle-backed species seems to have specialized in browsing higher bushes and low-hanging branches of trees. Its lower, flatter sister species grazed on grass, as well as fallen leaves and fruit on forest floors. Although similarly sized, the two species differed substantially in their body shape and bone structure. This species in particular seems to have been the ancestor of all the other four species of '' Cylindraspis'' giant tortoise of the Mascarene Islands, and to have accidentally drifted to the surrounding islands of Reunion and Rodrigues in order to do so. Its species name of ''"inepta"'' is due to its supposed propensity for falling into the oc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domed Mauritius Giant Tortoise
The domed Mauritius giant tortoise (''Cylindraspis triserrata'') is an extinct species of giant tortoise. It was endemic to Mauritius. Description One of two different giant tortoise species which were endemic to Mauritius, this domed species seems to have specialised in grazing of grass, as well as fallen leaves and fruit on forest floors. Its sister species was likely a browser of higher branches, and although similarly sized, the two species differed substantially in their body shape and bone structure. The domed species had a flatter, rounder shape, with thinner bones and shell. The species name ''triserrata'' actually refers to the three bony ridges on this animal's mandibles - possibly a specialisation for its diet. Extinction This species was previously numerous throughout Mauritius - both on the main island and on all of the surrounding islets. As Mauritius was the first of the Mascarene Islands to be settled, it was also the first to face the extermination of its bio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domed Rodrigues Giant Tortoise
The domed Rodrigues giant tortoise (''Cylindraspis peltastes'') is an extinct species of giant tortoise in the family Testudinidae. It was endemic to Rodrigues. It appears to have become extinct around 1800, as a result of human exploitation. Description The domed Rodrigues giant tortoise was one of the smallest of the giant tortoises of the Indian Ocean, reaching a length of just over 40 cm and an estimated weight of around 12 kg. A low grazer of grasses, it shared Rodrigues Island with its much larger relative, the saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise, which browsed the taller vegetation. Both species were descended from an ancestral species on Mauritius (an ancestor of '' Cylindraspis inepta''), which colonised Rodrigues by sea many millions of years ago, and then differentiated into the two Rodrigues species. Ecology and extinction At the time of the arrival of human settlers, dense giant tortoise herds of many thousands were reported on Rodrigues. Like man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mascarene Islands
The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of the islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Their name derives from the Portuguese navigator Pedro Mascarenhas, who first visited them in April 1512. The islands share a common geologic origin in the volcanism of the Réunion hotspot beneath the Mascarene Plateau and form a distinct ecoregion with a unique flora and fauna. Geography The archipelago comprises three large islands, Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues, plus a number of volcanic remnants in the tropics of the southwestern Indian Ocean, generally between 700 and 1500 kilometres east of Madagascar. The terrain includes a variety of reefs, atolls, and small islands. They present various topographical and edaphic regions. On the largest islands these gave rise to unusual biodiversity. The climate is oceanic and tropical. Mau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by the Southern Ocean or Antarctica, depending on the definition in use. Along its core, the Indian Ocean has some large marginal or regional seas such as the Arabian Sea, Laccadive Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Andaman Sea. Etymology The Indian Ocean has been known by its present name since at least 1515 when the Latin form ''Oceanus Orientalis Indicus'' ("Indian Eastern Ocean") is attested, named after Indian subcontinent, India, which projects into it. It was earlier known as the ''Eastern Ocean'', a term that was still in use during the mid-18th century (see map), as opposed to the ''Western Ocean'' (Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic) before the Pacific Ocean, Pacific was surmised. Conversely, Ming treasure voyages, Chinese explorers in the Indian Oce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fauna Of The Mascarene Islands
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoologists and paleontologists use ''fauna'' to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess Shale fauna". Paleontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of faunal stages, which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils. The study of animals of a particular region is called faunistics. Etymology ''Fauna'' comes from the name Fauna, a Roman goddess of earth and fertility, the Roman god Faunus, and the related forest spirits called Fauns. All three words are cognates of the name of the Greek god Pan, and ''panis'' is the Greek equivalent of fauna. ''Fauna'' is also the word for a book that catalogues the animals in such a manner. The term was first used b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
