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Psammobates oculifer (KUHL, 1820)

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Higher TaxaTestudinidae, Testudinoidea, Testudines (turtles)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Serrated Tent Tortoise, Kalahari Tent Tortoise, Serrated Tortoise 
SynonymTestudo oculifera KUHL 1820
Testudo semiserrata SMITH 1840
Testudo semi-serrata — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 220
Testudo semiserrata — BOULENGER 1886: 542
Testudo oculifera — SIEBENROCK 1899
Testudo oculifera — WERNER 1902
Testudo oculifera — WERNER 1910: 301
Psammobates oculifer — PRITCHARD 1967
Psammobates oculifer — AUERBACH 1987: 68
Psammobates oculiferus — KING & BURKE 1989
Psammobates oculifera — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989: 239
Psammobates oculifer — BAUER et al. 1993
Psammobates oculiferus — VALVERDE 2005
Psammobates oculiferus — BONIN et al 2006
Psammobates oculifer — BATES et al. 2015: 81
Psammobates oculifer — HOFMEYR et al. 2016
Psammobates oculifer — TTWG 2017: 147
Psammobates oculiferus — SCHLEICHER 2020
Psammobates oculifer — TTWG 2021
Psammobates oculifer — SCHLEICHER 2020
Psammobates oculifer — STANDER 2023: 239
Psammobates oculifer — TTWG 2025 
DistributionRepublic of South Africa (from extreme W Transvaal and the W Orange Free State northwestward), Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe

Type locality: "vom Cap dahin gebracht worden," [i.e. Republic of South Africa].  
Reproduction 
TypesHolotype: ZMB 223; destroyed in World War II. 
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 973 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentDistribution: see map in TTWG 2025. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin oculus, eye, and the Greek phero, to bear; referring to the ocellated pattern on the carapace. 
References
  • Auerbach, R.D. 1987. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Botswana. Mokwepa Consultants, Botswana, 295 pp.
  • 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.
  • Bauer, Aaron M.; Branch, William R. & Haacke, Wulf D. 1993. The herpetofauna of the Kamanjab area and adjacent Damaraland, Namibia. Madoqua (Windhoek) 18 (2): 117-145. - 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.
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1886. On the South-African tortoises allied to Testudo geometrica. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1886: 540-542 - get paper here
  • BOURQUIN, O. & V. GRUENER 2017. A NOTE ON THE HERPETOFAUNA OF MODISA CAMP (BOTSWANA) AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. African Herp News (64): 9-26 - get paper here
  • BROADLEY, D.G. ,.HUNT, J. & CANTLE, G. 2010. Psammobates oculifer (Kuhl, 1820). African Herp News (51): 24-25 - get paper here
  • CONRADIE, W., DOUCETTE-RIISE, S., VANHOOYDONCK, B., ENGELBRECHT, H., MEASEY, G.J., & TOLLEY, K. 2011. Herpetological survey of Rooipoort Nature Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa. African Herp News (53): 35-41 - get paper here
  • Cunningham, Peter. 2014. Psammobates oculifer (Kuhl, 1820) Serrated Tent Tortoise. Dormancy. African Herp News (61): 19 - get paper here
  • Duméril, A. M.C., G. BIBRON & A. DUMÉRIL 1854. Erpétologie générale ou Histoire Naturelle complète des Reptiles. Vol. 9. Paris, XX + 440 S. - 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.
  • Heaton, Jill S., James O. Juvik and Kiinge Amutenya. 2015. Psammobates oculifer Kuhl, 1820, Serrated Tent Tortoise, Winter Activity. African Herp News (62): 28-29 - 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Keswick, Toby & Margaretha D. Hofmeyr 2013. Population ecology of Psammobates oculifer in a semi-arid environment. African Journal of Herpetology 62 (2): 63-77 - get paper here
  • Keswick, Toby and Margaretha D. Hofmeyr. 2015. Sexual dimorphism and geographic variation in the morphology of a small southern African tortoise Psammobates oculifer. Amphibia-Reptilia 36 (1): 55-64 - get paper here
  • Keswick, Toby and Margaretha Hofmeyr. 2014. Refuge characteristics and preferences of Psammobates oculifer in semi-arid savanna. Amphibia-Reptilia 35 (1): 41-51 - get paper here
  • Kuhl,H. 1820. Beiträge zur Zoologie und vergleichenden Anatomie. Hermannsche Buchhandlung, Frankfurt, 152 pp. - 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
  • Schleicher, Alfred 2015. Reptilien Namibias. Namibia Scientific  Society, 276 pp.
  • Schleicher, Alfred 2020. Reptiles of Namibia. Kuiseb Publishers, Windhoek, Namibia, 271 pp.
  • Siebenrock, F. 1899. Über den Kehlkopf und die Luftröhre der Schildkröten. Anz. Akad. Wiss. Wien, math.-naturwiss. Kl., 36: 235-238
  • Smith,A. 1840. Illustrations of the zoology of South Africa, Reptilia. Smith, Elder, and Co., London - get paper here
  • Stander, R.I. 2023. The Reptiles of the Limpopo Province and Kruger National Park. Herp Nomad, Polokwane, South Africa, 367 pp. - get paper here
  • Tolley KA, Telford NS, Makhubo BG, Power RJ, Alexander GJ 2023. Filling the gap: Noteworthy herpetological discoveries in North West Province, South Africa. Zoosystematics and Evolution 99(1): 101-116 - 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 [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
  • Werner, F. 1902. Über westafrikanische Reptilien. Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien 52: 332-348 - get paper here
  • Werner,F. 1910. Reptilia et Amphibia. In Schultze, L., Zoologische und anthropologische Ergebnisse einer Forschungsreise im westlichen und zentralen Südafrika. Band IV, Systematik und Tiergeographie Vertebrata B. Denkschr. Med.-Nat. Wiss. GeselI. Jena 16: 279-370 [1910] - get paper here
 
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