Astrochelys yniphora (VAILLANT, 1885)

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Higher Taxa	Testudinidae, Testudinoidea, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Madagascan (Plowshare or Ploughshare) Tortoise G: Madagassische Schnabelbrustschildkröte
Synonym	Testudo yniphora VAILLANT 1885: 440 Testudo hyniphora VAILLANT & GRANDIDIER 1910 (nomen subst. pro T. yniphora) Astrochelys yniphora — BOUR 1980 Asterochelys yniphora — OBST 1985 Geochelone yniphora — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989: 252 Geochelone (Asterochelys) yniphora — KUCHLING 1989 Geochelone yniphora — PRITCHARD 1992 Astrochelys yniphora — DAVID 1994 Geochelone (Astrochelys) yniphora — GLAW & VENCES 1994: 224 Astrochelys yniphora — VALVERDE 2005 Angonoka yniphora — LE et al. 2006 Astrochelys yniphora — BONIN 2006: 206 Astrochelys yniphora — FRITZ & BININDA-EMONDS 2007 Astrochelys yniphora — TTWG 2021
Distribution	NW Madagascar (small area about Baly Bay) Type locality: (in error, see comment); designated by Bour 1978 as "cap d'Amparafaka (Baie de Baly), nord-ouest de Madagascar".
Reproduction	oviparous.
Types	Holotype: lost, was MNHN-RA 1885.0499 (by monotypy); apparently lost during the 1960's (fide KING & BURKE 1989)
Diagnosis
Comment	This is one of the 25 most endangered turtle species according to a 2003 assessment by the IUCN. The new generic name “Angonoka” is based on the Malagasy word ‘Angonoka’ which is the local name for the type species. The name change was necessary as the previous genus Geochelone was paraphyletic. Recognition of a monotypic genus Angonoka for G. yniphora is unwarranted according to both our re-analysis of sequence data and morphological data according to FRITZ & BININDA-EMONDS (2007). Type locality: “...la grande Comore. . ." (in error)
References	Bonin, F., Devaux, B. & Dupré, A. 2006. Turtles of the World. English translation by P.C.H. Pritchard. Johns Hopkins University Press, 416 pp. Bour, R. 1979. Les tortues actuelles de Madagascar (République Malagache): liste systématique et description de deux sous-espèces nouvelles (Reptilia-Testudines). Bulletin de la Société Etude des Sciences Anjou, N.S. 10:141-154 [1978] Bour, R. 1980. Essai sur la taxinomie des Testudinidae actuels (Reptilia, Chelonii). Bull. Mus. natl. Hist. nat. Paris (4) 2 (2): 541-546 Bour, R. 2007. The Plowshare tortoise: past, present, and uncertain future. The type of Testudo yniphora Vaillant, 1885, with a selected bibliography. Emys 14 (1) :33-46 Caccone, Adalgisa; George Amato; Oliver C. Gratry; John Behler and Jeffrey R. Powell 1999. A Molecular Phylogeny of Four Endangered Madagascar Tortoises Based on MtDNA Sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 12 (1): 1–9 - get paper here Castellano, Christina M.; Anders G.J. Rhodin, Michael Ogle, Russell A. Mittermeier, <br />Herilala Randriamahazo, Rick Hudson, and Richard E. Lewis, Eds. 2014. Turtles on the Brink in Madagascar: Proceedings of Two Workshops on the Status, Conservation, and Biology of Malagasy Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles. Chelonian Research Monographs, doi: 10.3854/crm.6 - get paper here Curl, David A. 1988. Wildlife as Canon sees it: Madagascan Plowshare Tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora). National Geographic 173(4):unnumbered Currylow, Andrea 2015. Ploughshare Tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora) natural entrapment: rarest tortoise nearly becomes slightly rarer. Herpetology Notes 8: 485-487 - get paper here Ernst,C.H. and Barbour,R.W. 1989. Turtles of the World. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. - London Finnegan, W. 2012. Letter from Madagascar - Slow and Steady. The New Yorker (January 2012): 56-63 Fritz, Uwe and Olaf R.P. Bininda-Emonds 2007. When genes meet nomenclature: Tortoise phylogeny and the shifting generic concepts of Testudo and Geochelone. Zoology 110 (4): 298-307 [erratum in vol. 111 (1): 84] - get paper here Glaw ,F. & Vences, M. 1994. A Fieldguide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar. Vences & Glaw Verlag, Köln (ISBN 3-929449-01-3) Juvik, J.O., A.J. Andrianarivo, and C. Blanc. 1982. The ecology and status of Geochelone yniphora; a critically endangered tortoise in northwestern Madagascar. Biological Conservation. Barking, England. 19:297-316. - get paper here Kuchling, G. 1989. Ökologie, Lebensweise und Überlebenschancen der Landschildkröten Madagaskars. Salamandra 25 (3-4): 169-190 - get paper here Mandimbihasina, Angelo R.; Shannon E. Engberg; Gary D. Shore; Emilienne Razaﬁmahatratra; Hafany Tiandray; Richard E. Lewis; Rick A. Brenneman & Edward E. Louis Jr. 2009. Characterization of 20 microsatellite markers in the plowshare tortoise, Astrochelys yniphora. Conservation Genetics. 10:1085–1088 - get paper here Obst, F.J. 1986. Turtles, tortoises and terrapins. St. Martins, New York. 231 pp. Pedrono, Miguel and Tim Markwell 2001. Maximum size and mass of the Ploughshare Tortoise, Geochelone yniphora. Chelonian Conserv. Biol. 4 (1): 190 - get paper here Rhodin, A.G.J., Walde, a.d., horne, B.d., van diJk, P.P., BlanCk, T., and hudson, r. (eds.) 2011. Turtles in Trouble: The World’s 25+ Most Endangered Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles—2011. Lunenburg, MA: IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, Turtle Conservation Fund, Turtle Survival Alliance, Turtle Conservancy, Chelonian Research Foundation, Conservation International, Wildlife Conservation Society, and San Diego Z Schwarz, D., D. Newton & C. Ratzimbazafy 2017. Assessment of the international illicit wildlife trade in the critically endangered Malagasy tortoise species Astrochelys yniphora and Astrochelys radiata. Salamandra 53 (1): 163-166 - get paper here Stanford, C.B. et al. 2020. Turtles and Tortoises Are in Trouble. Current Biology 30: R721–R735 - 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 Vaillant, M.L. 1885. On a new species of land tortoise, brought by Mr. Humblot to the Museum of Natural History. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) 16: 314-315 [from Comptes Rendue...] - get paper here Vaillant, M.L. 1885. Sur une Tortue terrestre d'espèce nouvelle, rapportée par M. Humbolt au Muséum d'Histoire naturelle. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences. Paris. 101(6): 440-441 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 Ziegler, Thomas; Joel Kamphausen, Frank Glaw, Angelica Crot- tini,, Gerardo Garcia, Dennis Rödder, Anna Rauhaus, Lilli Sten- ger & Anna Wahle 2022. Threatened Malagasy amphibians and reptiles in zoos – a call for enhanced implementation of the IUCN’s One Plan Approach Zool. Garten N.F. 90: 21-69 - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information http://www.tortoise.org/archives/yniphora.html http://www.chelonia.org/geochelone_gallery.htm http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/519-threatened-ploughshare-tortoise… http://www.unb.br/ib/zoo/grcolli/guia/bbresslaui.htm http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D6F85F14-2D4E-4B53-9B40… http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:13E09793-A6C9-4CF2-9ED8… Google images

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