Chelonoidis alburyorum
Extinct species of tortoise
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chelonoidis alburyorum is an extinct species of giant tortoise that lived in the Lucayan Archipelago (including The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands) from the Late Pleistocene to around 1400 CE.[1] The species was discovered and described by Richard Franz and Shelley E. Franz, the findings being published in 2009.[2]
| Chelonoidis alburyorum Temporal range: late Pleistocene - Holocene | |
|---|---|
Extinct (~1400 CE) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Testudines |
| Suborder: | Cryptodira |
| Family: | Testudinidae |
| Genus: | Chelonoidis |
| Species: | †C. alburyorum |
| Binomial name | |
| †Chelonoidis alburyorum Franz & Franz, 2009 | |
Name
The specific epithet, alburyorum, is in honor of Bahamian naturalist Nancy Ann Albury.
Fossil
Extinction
C. alburyorum was the last-surviving of the West Indian Chelonoidis, persisting up to 1170 CE on the Abacos, up to 1200 CE on Grand Turk, and up to 1400 CE on the Middle Caicos, just under a century prior to European colonization of the islands.[3][4]
