The Galapagos giant tortoise Chelonoidis phantasticus is not extinct

Jensen, Evelyn L.; Gaughran, Stephen J.; Fusco, Nicole; Poulakakis, Nikos; Tapia, Washington; Sevilla, Christian; Málaga, Jeffreys; Mariani, Carol; Gibbs, James P.; Caccone, Adalgisa

doi:10.1038/s42003-022-03483-w

Cited by 4 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Our phylogenetic analysis using SNAPP supported the topology previously inferred from genome-wide sequence data (Jensen et al . 2022), except for the relationships among the most recently diverged taxa ( guntheri , vandenburghi and microphyes ) and the placement of the Santa Cruz Island taxa.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…The delimitation models sometimes collapsed taxa that were not sister taxa on our phylogeny, emphasizing the finding from this and other studies that the phylogeny of taxa on Isabela Island is complex (Poulakakis et al . 2012, Jensen et al . 2022) and likely needs genomic data from a larger number of individuals to be resolved.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We mapped existing Illumina short-read data (NCBI Bioproject PRJNA761229; Jensen et al . 2021, Jensen et al . 2022) to the Pinta Island Galapagos giant tortoise reference genome (NCBI assembly ASM359739v1, Quesada et al .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The whole genome resequencing data from Jensen et al . (2022) is available under NCBI BioProject PRJNA761229.…”

Section: Data Accessibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most striking morphological difference is carapace shape, which ranges from a domed shape to a saddleback shape with an elevated anterior carapace opening. These carapace shapes have a genetic underpinning, as evidenced by a clear phylogenetic signal (Jensen et al . 2022) and a strong inheritance in juveniles of different taxa raised in a common environment (Pritchard 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Whole-genome sequencing confirms multiple species of Galapagos giant tortoises

Gaughran

Gray

Jones

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Galapagos giant tortoises are endemic to the Galapagos Archipelago, where they are found in isolated populations. While these populations are widely considered distinguishable in morphology, behavior, and genetics, the recent divergence of these taxa has made their status as species controversial. Here, we apply modern methods of species delimitation to whole genome resequencing data from 38 tortoises across all 13 extant taxa to assess support for delimiting these taxa as species. We find strong evidence to reject the hypothesis that all Galapagos giant tortoises belong to a single species. Instead, a conservative interpretation of model-based and divergence-based results indicates that these taxa form a species complex consisting of a minimum of 5 species, with some analyses supporting as many as 13 species. There is mixed support for the species status of taxa living on the same island, with some methods delimiting them as separate species and others suggesting there is a single species per island. These results make clear that Galapagos giant tortoise taxa represent different stages in the process of speciation, with some taxa further along in that evolutionary process than others. A better understanding of the more complex parts of that process is urgently needed, given the threatened status of Galapagos giant tortoises.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%