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Testudo marginata SCHOEPFF, 1792

IUCN Red List - Testudo marginata - Least Concern, LC
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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 — ERNST & BARBOUR 1989: 269
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
Testudo marginata — TTWG 2025 
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] 
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 1858 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
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. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin marginatus, provided with borders, presumably for the protruding (posterior) margins of the carapace.

T. m. weissingeri was named after Heinz Weissinger (5.11.1945-21.1.1993), see obituary in Benyr 1993, Herpetozoa, 6: 71. (now a synonym) 
References
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