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Testudo marginata SCHOEPFF, 1792

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Higher TaxaTestudinidae, Testudinoidea, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Marginated Tortoise
G: Breitrand-Schildkröte
E: Dwarf marginated tortoise (weissingeri)
F: Tortue bordée naine (weissingeri)
Italian: testuggine marginata 
SynonymTestudo tabulata var. campanulata WALBAUM (nomen illegitimum) 1782
Testudo marginata SCHOEPFF 1792
Testudo graja HERMANN 1804
Testudo marginata — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1835: 37
Testudo marginata — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 219
Testudo campanulata STRAUCH 1862
Testudo nemoralis SCHREIBER 1875
Testudo marginata — BOULENGER 1889
Testudo marginata sarda MAYER 1992 (fide FRITZ & HAVAS 2007)
Testudo marginata — ENGELMANN et al 1993
Testudo marginata weissingeri — TRUTNAU 1994
Testudo weissingeri BOUR 1996
Testudo marginata — LAPPARENT DE BROIN 2001
Testudo marginata weissingeri — FRITZ 2002
Testudo weissingeri — BONIN et al 2006
Testudo marginata weissingeri — PIEH & PHILIPPEN 2007
Testudo marginata — SINDACO & JEREMČENKO 2008
Testudo weissingeri — KWET & TRAPP 2014
Testudo (Testudo) marginata — TTWG 2017: 155
Testudo marginata — TTWG 2021 
DistributionItaly (introduced to Sardinia; Tuscany [E. RAZZETTI, pers. comm.]), Turkey (introduced fide SINDACO et al. 2000),
Greece (from Mt. Olympus southward, in the Aegean Sea, Corfu, Skyros, Poros, Paros), Albania

weissingeri: Greece (Peloponnese, on the Western flank of the Taygetos mountain, between Kalamata (Messenia) and Areopoli (Laconia))

Type locality: Unknown; designated by Bour (1987:121), as "Grèce" based on repeated reference to Greece in the donor's description, and further restricted to "la province de l'Attique, d'où provenait vraisemblablement ce lectotype" [province of Attica, Stereá Eláda].  
ReproductionTestudo marginata and Testudo graeca ibera have been reported to produce viable hybrids (STEMMLER-GYGER 1963, 1964, Rogner 2013). 
TypesLectotype: MZUS 143 designated by Bour 1987:118.
Holotype: MNHN-RA 1989: 3317 [weissingeri] 
Diagnosis 
CommentSystematics: Testudo weissingeri differs from T. marginata in size and coloration. However, the presence of thigh-spurs is not a reliable character to distinguish between the two species. It has been postulated that T. weissingeri is a dwarf form of T. marginata, the largest European tortoise species. FRITZ et al (2005) detected no differentiation between T. marginata and T. weissingeri. They conclude that T. weissingeri is not a distinct evolutionary unit and suggest that its small size is the result of suboptimal environmental conditions with limited resources. As a consequence, T. weissingeri was synonymized with T. marginata.

Distribution: For a map see Escoriza & Hassine 2022: Fig. 1. 
EtymologyEtymology (weissingeri): Named after Heinz Weissinger (5.11.1945-21.1.1993), see obiturary in Benyr 1993, Herpetozoa, 6: 71. 
References
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