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Malacochersus tornieri (SIEBENROCK, 1903)

IUCN Red List - Malacochersus tornieri - Vulnerable, VU
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Higher TaxaTestudinidae, Testudinoidea, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Pancake Tortoise
G: Spaltenschildkröte 
SynonymTestudo tornieri SIEBENROCK 1903: 443
Testudo loveridgii BOULENGER 1920
Testudo tornieri — LOVERIDGE 1936
Malocochersus tornieri — MERTENS et al. 1934
Malacochersus tornieri — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 8
Malacochersus tornieri — VALVERDE 2005
Malacochersus tornieri — TTWG 2014
Malacochersus tornieri — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 35
Malacochersus tornieri — TTWG 2021 
DistributionKenya, Tanzania, Zambia (Chansa & Wagner 2006)

Type locality: "bei Bussia [=Busisi] am Victoria Nyanza. . .," Tanzania.  
Reproductionoviparous. Exhibits temperature‐dependent sex determination (TSD) fide Cornejo-Páramo et al. 2020 (and references therein). 
TypesHolotype: ZMB 11740, destroyed in World War II. 
Diagnosis 
CommentTestudo procterae LOVERIDGE 1923 has been removed from the synonymy of this species and moved to Kinixys spekii (BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991). Color plate in Hennen (2001).

Type species: Testudo tornieri SIEBENROCK 1903 is the type species of the genus Malacochersus LINDHOLM 1929: 285.

Karyotype: 2n = 52 (Dowler and Bickham, 1982). 
EtymologyNamed after Gustav Tornier (1858-1938), German zoologist. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Bonin, F., Devaux, B. & Dupré, A. 2006. Turtles of the World. English translation by P.C.H. Pritchard. Johns Hopkins University Press, 416 pp.
  • Böttcher, M. 2007. Die Versorgung von Reptilien in der Terrarienhaltung mit ultraviolettem Licht. Elaphe 15 (1): 32-37
  • Broadley, D. G. & HOWELL, K. M. 1991. A check list of the reptiles of Tanzania, with synoptic keys. Syntarsus 1: 1—70
  • Chansa, W. & Wagner, P. 2006. On the status of Malacochersus tornieri (SIEBENROCK, 1903) in Zambia. Salamandra 42 (2-3): 187-190 - get paper here
  • Cimatti, E. 2006. Reptile Parks in Tanzania. Reptilia (GB) (48): 52-59 - get paper here
  • Cimatti, E. 2006. African Jewels: Tanzania on foot. Reptilia (GB) (46): 65-70 - get paper here
  • Cordero, Gerardo A. 2017. Quick guide: The turtle’s shell. Biology 27: R163–R171 - get paper here
  • Cornejo-Páramo, P., Lira-Noriega, A., Ramírez-Suástegui, C. et al. 2020. Sex determination systems in reptiles are related to ambient temperature but not to the level of climatic fluctuation. BMC Evol Biol 20: 103 - get paper here
  • Dworschak, Christine. 2016. Die Haltung von Spaltenschildkröten Malacochersus tornieri in Zimmerterrarium . Schildkröten im Fokus 13 (2): 4-12. [christine.dworschak@a1.net]
  • Eglis, A. 1960. Notes on the Soft-Shelled Tortoise Malacochersus tornieri (Siebenrock) Herpetologica 16 (1): 12-14. - get paper here
  • Ernst,C.H. and Barbour,R.W. 1989. Turtles of the World. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. - London
  • Ewert, M.A., R.E. Hatcher & J.M. Goode 2004. Sex Determination and Ontogeny in Malacochersus tornieri, the Pancake Tortoise Journal of Herpetology 38 (2): 291-295. - get paper here
  • Hennen, U. 2001. Categories of the Red List. Radiata 10 (3): 23-28
  • Hughes, B. 1986. Longevity Records of African Captive Amphibians and Reptiles: Part 1: Introduction and Species List 1 - Amphibians and Chelonians. J. Herp. Assoc. Africa (32): 1-5 - get paper here
  • Ireland, L.C.; Gans, C. 1972. The adaptive significance of the flexible shell of the tortoise Malacochersus tornieri. Animal Behaviour 20:778-781 - get paper here
  • Kirchhof S, Wasonga V, Mazuch T, Spawls S, Malonza KP. 2023. An annotated checklist of the herpetofauna of the Sibiloi National Park in northern Kenya based on field surveys. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 17(1/2) [General Section]: 1–18 (e324) - get paper here
  • Kirkpatrick, David T. 1997. Pancake tortoises (Malacochersus tornieri). Reptiles 5 (2): 76-81
  • Lindholm W.A. 1929. Revidiertes Verzeichnis der Gattungen der rezenten Schildkröten nebst Notizen zur Nomenklatur einiger Arten. Zoologischer Anzeiger 81(2): 275-295
  • Lourenço, João M.; Julien Claude, Nicolas Galtier, Ylenia Chiari 2011. Dating cryptodiran nodes: Origin and diversification of the turtle superfamily Testudinoidea. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 62 (1): - get paper here
  • Loveridge, A. 1936. African reptiles and amphibians in the Field Museum of Natural History. Zool. Ser. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Chicago, 22 (1): 1-122 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, Arthur & Williams, Ernest E. 1957. Revision of the African Tortoises and Turtles of the Suborder Cryptodira. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 115 (6): 163-557 - get paper here
  • Mertens, R. 1938. Über eine herpetologische Sammlung aus dem Gebiete des Njarasa-Grabens Ost-Afrikas. Veröffentlichungen aus dem Deutschen Kolonial- und Übersee-Museum in Bremen 2 (1): 1-9 [no page numbers]
  • Moll, Don; Klemens, Michael W. 1996. Ecological characteristics of pancake tortoise, Malacochersus tornieri, in Tanzania. Chelonian Conserv. Biol. 2 (1): 26-35
  • Mwaya, R.T. 2009. The floristic composition of the habitat of Malacochersus tornieri at a hill in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. Salamandra 45 (2): 115-118 - get paper here
  • Mwaya, R.T., Moll, d., Malonza, P.k., and Ngwava, J.M. 2018. Malacochersus tornieri (Siebenrock 1903) – Pancake Tortoise, Tornier’s Tortoise, Soft-shelled Tortoise, Crevice Tortoise, Kobe Ya Mawe, Kobe Kama Chapati. In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., van Dijk, P.P., Stanford, C.B., Goode, E.V., Buhlmann, K.A., Pritchard, P.C.H., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise
  • Mwaya, Reginald T.; Rudolf Mremi, Abraham Eustace & Vedasto Ndibalema 2021. Prevalence of Tick (Acari: Ixodidae) Parasitism on Pancake Tortoises, Malacochersus tornieri (Testudinidae), Is Lower Inside than Outside Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. Chelonian Conservation and Biology Jun 2021 Vol. 20, No. 1: 116-124 - get paper here
  • Pauler, I. 1990. Zur Nachzucht der Spaltenschildkröte Malacochersus tornieri (Siebenrock, 1903). Herpetofauna 12 (66): 6-10 - get paper here
  • Pietersen, Darren, Verburgt, Luke & Davies, John 2021. Snakes and other reptiles of Zambia and Malawi. Struik Nature / Penguin Random House South Africa, 376 pp., ISBN 9781775847373
  • Procter, J. B. 1922. A study of the remarkable tortoise, Testudo loveridgii Blgr., and the morphogeny of the chelonian carapace. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1922: 483-526 - get paper here
  • Rogner, M. 2007. Die Spaltenschildkröte - Malacochersus tornieri (Siebenrock, 1903). Verbreitung, Lebensweise und Vermehrung Terraria (5) 2 (3): 39-43.
  • Rogner, Manfred 2012. Die Spaltenschildkröte Malacochersus tornieri. Natur und Tier Verlag, 64 pp. - get paper here
  • Schmalz, M. & R. Stein 1994. Malacochersus tornieri: Beobachtungen bei Haltung und Nachzucht. Salamandra 30 (1): 12-21 - get paper here
  • SHOO, RAY; MOHAMED NASSORO & REGINALD T. MWAYA. 2022. The effects of handling on natural populations of the Critically Endangered Pancake Tortoise, Malacochersus tornieri (Testudines: Testudinidae). Salamandra 58(2): 151–156. - get paper here
  • Siebenrock, F. 1903. Über zwei seltene und eine neue Schildkröte des Berliner Museums. Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Math.-Naturwiss. Klasse. 112 (1): 439-445. - get paper here
  • Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2002. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147] - get paper here
  • Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here
  • TTWG [Peter Paul van Dijk, John B. Iverson, Anders G.J. Rhodin, H. Bradley Shaffer, and Roger Bour] 2014. Turtles of the World, 7th Edition: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution with Maps, and Conservation Status. 000.v7. Chelonian Research Monographs (ISSN 1088-7105) No. 5, doi:10.3854/crm.5.000.checklist.v7.2014 - get paper here
  • TTWG; Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., Bour, R., Fritz, U., Georges, A., Shaffer, H.B., and van Dijk, P.P. 2021. Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (9th Ed.). In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., van Dijk, P.P., Stanford, C.B., Goode, E.V., Buhlmann, K.A., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.). Chelonian Research Monographs 8:1–472. doi:10.3854/crm.8.checklist.atlas.v9.2021. - get paper here
  • Valverde, J. 2005. African Tortoises. Reptilia (GB) (43): 12-20 - get paper here
  • Valverde, J. 2005. Afrikanische Landschildkröten. Reptilia (Münster) 10 (56): 18-25 - get paper here
  • Vinke, T. & Vinke, S. 2000. Malacochersus tornieri (SIEBENROCK, 1903). Sauria 22 (3) Suppl.: 495-498 - get paper here
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  • Vinke, T. & Vinke, S. 2005. Die Lanschildkröten Afrikas - Vielfalt durch Anpassung an extreme Lebensräume. Reptilia (Münster) 10 (56): 26-28 - get paper here
  • Werning, H. 2010. 100 Jahre Aquarium im Zoo Leipzig. Reptilia (Münster) 15 (84): 72-76 - get paper here
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