Pelomedusa galeata devilliersi Hewitt, 1935

Fritz, Uwe, Petzold, Alice, Kehlmaier, Christian, Kindler, Carolin, Campbell, Patrick, Hofmeyr, Margaretha D. & Branch, William R., 2014, Disentangling the Pelomedusa complex using type specimens and historical DNA (Testudines: Pelomedusidae), Zootaxa 3795 (5), pp. 501-522 : 515

Pelomedusa galeata devilliersi Hewitt, 1935

The description of this subspecies was based on a single shell from “Besondermeid, Steinkopf, Namaqualand, C.P.” [Cape Province, now Northern Cape, South Africa] ( Hewitt 1935: p. 337). Following Mertens (1937: p. 139) and Loveridge (1941: p. 474), Pelomedusa galeata devilliersi was later synonymized with the nominotypical subspecies of the helmeted terrapin, if the species was regarded as polytypic.

The holotype of Pelomedusa galeata devilliersi is now in the collection of the Port Elizabeth Museum (PEM R14962) and was examined for this study ( Fig. 7 , bottom). Tissue for genetic investigation was extracted and mtDNA fragments of all three marker genes could be sequenced ( Table 2 ). In phylogenetic analyses ( Fig. 1 ), the concatenated sequences are associated with high support with other South African samples representing lineage IX sensu Vargas-Ramírez et al. (2010), and thus Pelomedusa galeata devilliersi Hewitt, 1935 would become a junior synonym of Testudo galeata Schoepff, 1792 , if lineage IX should be regarded as taxonomically distinct.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Maximum Likelihood tree for Pelomedusa, based on 1848 bp of mitochondrial DNA (12S, cyt b, ND4+tRNAs), rooted with Pelusios sinuatus. The tree topology completely matches the one inferred by Bayesian analyses. Numbers along nodes indicate bootstrap support and Bayesian posterior probabilities greater than 50 or 0.95, respectively (not shown for some terminal clades with short branches). Sample codes are voucher numbers; see Table S1 for explanation. Name-bearing types (red) and paralectotypes or topotypic samples (blue) highlighted. On the right, mitochondrial lineages of Vargas-Ramírez et al. (2010) indicated. No topotypic material of Pelomedusa galeata orangensis Hewitt, 1935 could be sequenced. However, the lost holotype is thought to come from the vicinity of Kimberley (South Africa) and all South African samples belong to lineage IX, so it can be concluded that Pelomedusa galeata orangensis represents the same lineage. Inset: Helmeted terrapin from the Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa. Photo: M. Gregorič.

FIGURE 7. Dorsal and ventral views of the lectotype of Pelomedusa galeata damarensis Hewitt, 1935 (PEM R14953, adult male, straight carapacial length 14.0 cm; top) and of the holotype of Pelomedusa galeata devilliersi Hewitt, 1935 (PEM R14962, adult female, straight carapacial length 19.24 cm; bottom). Scale bars, 3 cm. Photos: W.R. Branch.