elephantina Duméril and Bibron, 1835. He believed that this required the rejection of Aldabrachelys Loveridge and 
Williams, 1957, and a new generic name. Thus, Bour coined Dipsochelys. However, there is an available generic 
name for tortoises with an elongated external narial opening: Megalochelys Falconer and Cautley, 1835 (type species 
M. atlas). I prefer to retain the specific epithet gigantea for three reasons: 1) an enormous amount of recent 
ecological research has used the name, 2) abandonment of gigantea requires the acceptance of an uncertain 
interpretation of Schweigger's (1812) description, and 3) elephantina, the next available name, is very much like 
elephantopus and would increase the opportunity for orthographic errors (see Crumly, 1986). Still another 
interpretation of Schweigger's original description is presented by Pritchard (1986); he suggests that Schweigger 
actually described a specimen of Geochelone denticulata. 
Broadley (1982) reviewed the savannah Kinixys, some of which were subsumed into Kinixys belliana by 
Loveridge and Williams (1957). Broadley reinstated two names synonymized by Loveridge and Williams: Kinixys 
natalensis (Hewitt, 1935) and Kinixys belliana spekii (Gray, 1863). K. natalensis was distinguished from other 
Kinixys by gular scute proportions, a tricupsid beak and a divided suprapygal. Kinixys belliana spekii was 
distinguished from other K. belliana by carapacial and gular proportions, a unicuspid beak and coloration. 
Bramble (1982) restricted Gopherus by removing two of the primitive species and placing them in his new 
genus Scaptochelys. Although Gopherus (sensu lato) is exceptionally well defined, Scaptochelys is based on shared 
primitive characters (Crumly, 1984b, 1984c). Furthermore, Scaptochelys, containing Gopherus agassizii and G. 
berlandieri as well as some fossil species, is a junior subjective synonym of Xerobates Agassiz 1857 (type species 
Xerobates berlandieri designated by Brown 1908) (Bour and Dubois, 1984; Crumly, 1985). 
SELECTED LITERATURE 
Below are the references cited in the preceeding pages. Also included are other references that were not cited, 
but that are useful for the interpretation of the history of testudinid nomenclature. This is not intended as a complete 
bibliography of land tortoise systematics. Those references cited in the text are preceded by an asterisk. 
*Agassiz, L. 1857. Contribution to the Natural History of the United States. North American Testudinata. 1 (2): 
235-452. Little, Brown and Co.; Boston. 
Anderson, J. 1898. Zoology of Egypt, 1, Reptilia and Batrachia. Bernard Quartich; London. 
Anderson, S. C. 1966. The turtles, lizards and amphibaenians of Iran. Ph.D. Dissertation, Stanford University. 
Andrews, C. 1906. A descriptive catalogue of the Tertiary Vertebrata of the Fayum, Egypt. British Mus. (Natur. 
Hist.); London. 
Annandale, N. 1906. Testudo baluchiorum, a new species. J. Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal 2(3): 1-11. 
1913. The tortoises of Chota Nagpur. Rec. Indian Mus. 9(2), no. 5: 63-78. 
1915. Notes on some Indian chelonians. Rec. Indian Mus. part II 11(11): 189-195. 
Arnold,E. N. 1979. Indian Ocean giant tortoises: their systematics and island adaptations. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. 
London B. 286: 127-145. 
Auffenberg, W. 1961. A correction regarding the phalangeal formula of the turtle Stylemys nebrascensis Leidy. 
Copeia 1961(4): 496-498. 
1962. A new species of Geochelone from the Pleistocene of Texas. Copeia 1962(3): 627-636. 
1963. The fossil testudinine turtles of Florida, genera Geochelone and Floridemys. Bull. Florida State 
Mus. 7(2): 53-97. 
1964. A new fossil tortoise from the Texas Miocene, with remarks on the probable geological history 
of tortoises in the Eastern United States. The Pearse-Sellards Series, Texas Mem. Mus., Univ. Texas 
3: 2-10. 
1966. The carpus of land tortoises (Testudininae). Bull. Florida State Mus. 10(5): 159-191. 
1969. Land of the Choco tortoise, Geochelone chilensis. Internat]. Turtle & Tortoise Soc. J. 3(3). 
1971. A new fossil tortoise, with remarks on the origin of South American tortoises. Copeia 1971(1): 
106-117. 
ss . 1974. Checklist of fossil land tortoises (Testudinidae). Bull. Florida State Mus. 18(3): 121-251. 
1976. The genus Gopherus (Testudinidae): Pt. I. Osteology and relationships of extant species. Bull. 
Florida State Mus. 20(2): 47-110. 
and R. Franz. 1978a. Gopherus. Catalogue Amer. Amphibians Reptiles (211): 1-2. 
and . 1978b. Gopherus agassizii. Catalogue Amer. Amphibians Reptiles (212): 1-2. 
and . 1978c. Gopherus berlandieri. Catalogue Amer. Amphibians Reptiles (213): 1-2. 
and . 1978d. Gopherus flavomarginatus. Catalogue Amer. Amphibians Reptiles (214): 1-2. 
