Abstract
Desert tortoises (Testudines; Testudinidae; Gopherus agassizii group) have an extensive distribution throughout the Mojave, Colorado, and Sonoran desert regions. Not surprisingly, they exhibit a tremendous amount of ecological, behavioral, morphological and genetic variation. Gopherus agassizii was considered a single species for almost 150 years but recently the species was split into the nominate form and Morafka’s desert tortoise, Gopherus morafkai, the latter occurring south and east of the Colorado River. Whereas a large body of literature focuses on tortoises in the United States, a dearth of investigations exists for Mexican animals. Notwithstanding, Mexican populations of desert tortoises in the southern part of the range of Gopherus morafkai are distinct, particularly where the tortoises occur in tropical thornscrub and tropical deciduous forest. Recent studies have shed light on the ecology, morphology and genetics of these southern ‘desert’ tortoises. All evidence warrants recognition of this clade as a distinctive taxon and herein we describe it as Gopherus evgoodei sp. n. The description of the new species significantly reduces and limits the distribution of Gopherus morafkai to desertscrub habitat only. By contrast, Gopherus evgoodei sp. n. occurs in thornscrub and tropical deciduous forests only and this leaves it with the smallest range of the three sister species. We present conservation implications for the newly described Gopherus evgoodei, which already faces impending threats.
Highlights
Desert tortoises occupy a large geographic range throughout the Mojave and Colorado deserts and in the Sonoran desert region of the United States and mainland Mexico (Fritts and Jennings 1994; Berry et al 2002) (Figure 1)
Analyses indicated that G. morafkai consisted of two genetically and geographically distinct species
Herpetologists have noted the distinctiveness of Mexican populations of desert tortoises in the southern part of the range of G. morafkai, where they occur in Sinaloan Thornscrub (STS) and Tropical Deciduous Forest (TDF)
Summary
Desert tortoises (genus Gopherus: G. agassizii group) occupy a large geographic range throughout the Mojave and Colorado deserts and in the Sonoran desert region of the United States and mainland Mexico (Fritts and Jennings 1994; Berry et al 2002) (Figure 1). Gopherus morafkai (Murphy et al 2011) was described as a species separate from G. agassizii (Cooper 1861) based on ecological, behavioral and genetic differences. Murphy et al (2011) noted that the full diversity of G. morafkai had not yet been defined. Edwards et al (2015) conducted a detailed genetic analysis of G. morafkai in Mexico. Lamb et al (1989) reported deeply divergent mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes in the southern portion of the range of G. morafkai. They found that this southern “Sinaloan lineage” constituted a species distinct from northern congeners
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