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Chersobius boulengeri (DUERDEN, 1906)

IUCN Red List - Chersobius boulengeri - Endangered, EN
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Higher TaxaTestudinidae, Testudinoidea, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Karoo dwarf tortoise, Donner-weer Tortoise, Karoo padloper
G: Karoo-Zwergschildkröte 
SynonymHomopus boulengeri DUERDEN 1906
Pseudomopus boulengeri — HEWITT 1931: 502
Homopus boulengeri — BOUR 1980
Chersobius boulengeri — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989: 235
Homopus boulengeri — VALVERDE 2005
Homopus boulengeri — TTWG 2014
Homopus boulengeri — BATES et al. 2015: 73
Chersobius boulengeri — HOFMEYR et al. 2016
Chersobius boulengeri — TTWG 2021
Chersobius boulengeri — TTWG 2025 
DistributionRepublic of South Africa (Karroo Plain of Cape Province, South Africa), Namibia ?

Type locality: "South Africa - Districts of Willowmore, Aberdeen, and Beaufort West".  
Reproductionoviparous. 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.23.4; formerly BMNH 1906.6.21.1 (Possibly NOT a type, see Branch/Campbell correspondence 30.8.2018; “... a specimen in the PEM (previously Albany Museum) that is labelled as a syntype, and which conforms to the only specimen illustrated in the type description....”) 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 1988 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentDistribution: see map in TTWG 2025. 
EtymologyNamed after George Albert Boulenger (1858-1937), herpetologist at the British Museum of Natural History, London. 
References
  • Bates, M.F.; Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M.; Burger, M., Marais, J.; Alexander, G.J. & de Villliers, M.S. (eds.) 2014. Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, 512 pp.
  • 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. 1980. Essai sur la taxinomie des Testudinidae actuels (Reptilia, Chelonii). Bull. Mus. natl. Hist. nat. Paris (4) 2 (2): 541-546
  • Branch, William R. 1993. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 144 S.
  • Duerden, J.E. 1906. South African tortoises of the genus Homopus, with description of a new species. Records of the Albany Museum 1: 405-411 - get paper here
  • Ernst,C.H. and Barbour,R.W. 1989. Turtles of the World. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. - London
  • Greig, J.C., and P.D. Burdett. 1976. Patterns in the distributions of Southern African terrestrial tortoises (Cryptodira: Testudinidae). Zool. Africana 11(2): 250-267.
  • Haagner, G. V. 1990. Life History Note: Homopus boulengeri: Egg Size. J. Herp. Assoc. Africa (37): 51-51 - get paper here
  • Herrmann, H.-W.; W.R. Branch 2013. Fifty years of herpetological research in the Namib Desert and Namibia with an updated and annotated species checklist. Journal of Arid Environments 93: 94–115 - get paper here
  • Hewitt, J. 1931. Descriptions of some African tortoises. Annals of the Natal Museum Pietermaritzburg. 6: 461-506.
  • Hofmeyr, Margaretha D. & William R. Branch 2018. The padloper’s tortuous path (Chelonia: Testudinidae): Two genera, not one. African Journal of Herpetology 67 (2): 99-112 - get paper here
  • Hofmeyr, Margaretha D.; Melita Vamberger, William Branch, Alfred Schleicher and Savel R. Daniels 2016. Tortoise (Reptilia, Testudinidae) radiations in Southern Africa from the Eocene to the present. Zoologica Scripta 46: 389–400, DOI: 10.1111/zsc.12223 [Record online: 18 NOV 2016] - get paper here
  • Lafleur, Y. et al. 1999. CITES Identification Guide: Turtles and Tortoises. ISBN 957-02-5259-6
  • LOEHR, V. J. T. 2017. TESTUDINIDAE: Homopus boulengeri Duerden 1906 Karoo Padloper - REPRODUCTION. African Herp News (65): 17-19 - get paper here
  • LOEHR, V. T. 2018. Chersobius boulengeri (Duerden, 1906) REPRODUCTION. African Herp News (68): 37-38 - get paper here
  • LOEHR, VICTOR J.T. 2021. The Karoo dwarf tortoise (Chersobius boulengeri): field report on a vanishing species. Testudo 9(3): 17. - get paper here
  • LOEHR, VICTOR J.T. 2023. Habitat Use by the Rock-Dwelling Karoo Dwarf Tortoise, Chersobius boulengeri. Ichthyology & Herpetology 111(3): 360–367. - get paper here
  • Loehr, Victor J.T.; Toby Keswick, Merle A.D.E. Reijnders & Iris M. Zweers 2021. High-Level Inactivity Despite Favorable Environmental Conditions in the Rock-Dwelling Dwarf Tortoise Chersobius boulengeri. Herpetologica Sep 2021 Vol. 77, No. 3: 232-238 - 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
  • Tolley, K.A., Conradie, W., Pietersen, D.W., Weeber, J., Burger, M. & Alexander, G.J. (eds) 2023. Conservation status of the reptiles of South Africa, Eswatini and Lesotho. Suricata 10. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria
  • 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 [TURTLE TAXONOMY WORKING GROUP: RHODIN, A.G.J., IVERSON, J.B., FRITZ, U., GALLEGO-GARCÍA, N., GEORGES, A., SHAFFER, H.B., AND VAN DuK, P.P.]. 2025. Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (10th 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.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Monographs 10:1-575 - 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.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Monographs 8:1–472. doi:10.3854/crm.8.checklist.atlas.v9.2021. - get paper here
  • Valverde, J. 2005. Afrikanische Landschildkröten. Reptilia (Münster) 10 (56): 18-25 - get paper here
  • Valverde, J. 2005. African Tortoises. Reptilia (GB) (43): 12-20 - get paper here
 
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