By Alexandra Valencia
QUITO – Scientists have found that a kind of big tortoise current on one in all Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands will not be from the species it was beforehand considered, Galapagos Nationwide Park mentioned.
A examine concluded that the large tortoises residing on San Cristobal island, beforehand recognized as Chelonoidis chathamensis, correspond genetically to a distinct species, the park mentioned in an announcement late on Thursday.
“The scientists concluded that almost 8,000 tortoises which exist immediately on San Cristobal are usually not Chelonoidis chathamensis however correspond to a very new lineage that has not but been described,” the park mentioned.
The invention was made by a genetic comparability of the animals with a pattern from the already described species, the assertion added, in a examine carried out by Newcastle College, Yale College and the Galapagos Conservancy.
The lineage beforehand thought to correspond to the San Cristobal tortoises could belong to an extinct species that cohabited with the surviving one, the assertion mentioned.
“The staff of investigators is recovering extra DNA from the species considered extinct to make clear the state of the tortoises and decide how these two species (the residing and the extinct) relate,” the assertion mentioned. “For them, the identify Chelonoidis chathamensis must be assigned to the disappeared species and the residing taxon ought to obtain a brand new identify.”
Genetic research of surviving Galapagos tortoises started in 1995 and 4 years later scientists started learning samples type extinct species.
The Galapagos — whose wealthy biodiversity impressed Charles Darwin’s principle of evolution — is residence to a big number of flamingos, albatross and cormorants.
Ecuador lately prolonged the marine reserve across the islands by 60,000 sq. kilometers (23,166 sq. miles).l
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