BAUER, DEBOER, & TAYLOR: ATLAS OF THE REPTILES OF LIBYA 
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Jabal al Akhdar : 451: Schleich 1989; Perala 2005. 457: FMNH [no specific number given]; 
Perala 2005. Darnah : 466: MTKD D 31598; MZUT R2026; SMF 36124; Zavattari 1929, 1930, 
1934; Calabresi 1923; Perala 2001; Perala 2005; Andreone et al. 2007; Schneider and Schneider 
2008. 468: Perala 2005. 469: Schneider and Schneider 2006a, b. 470: Schleich 1989. 475: MTKD 
47390; Schneider and Schneider 2006a, b. 481: Perala 2005. 483: Perala 2005. 484a: Schleich 
1989; Perala 2005. Butnan : 489: Perala 2005. 490: SMF 35406,37643; Schleich 1989. 492: Perala 
2005. 509: Vinciguerra 1927; Zavattari 1929, 1930, 1934; Gestro and Vinceguerra 1931; Perala 
2005; Schneider and Schneider 2008. 510: Schleich 1989. 515: Vinciguerra 1929; Zavattari 1929; 
Loveridge and Williams 1957. 521: Iverson 1992; Perala 2005; Schneider and Schneider 2008. Al 
Wahat : 529: Iverson 1992; Perala 2005; Schneider and Schneider 2008. “Cyrenaica”: Werner 
1909. “Northeastern Libya”: PCHP 4319, 4321, 4323, 4340, 4341, 4438, 4441-43, 4445, 4446, 
4484; Perala 2001. LIBYA: MTKD D 26016, 28287, 29119; NMP 71036, 71070, 72917; RMNH 
RENA 11364; SMF 35546, 36061, 41201; Perala 2001. 
Comments. — Testudo leithi Gunther, 1869, although a senior synonym of T. kleinmanni, is 
unavailable as it is also a junior homonym of a nomen applying to another species. Testudo werneri 
Perala, 2001, with its type locality in Israel, was synonymized with T. kleinmanni by Baha El Din 
(2006) and this action has subsequently been supported by several studies (Siroky and Fritz 2007; 
Attum et al. 2007), although it is retained as sub specifically distinct by some authors (e.g., Wern¬ 
er 2016). 
Loveridge and Williams (1957) summarized Libyan records known at the time as “Barca; 
between Bir Sceferzen and Esc-Scegga on the Giarabub to Tobruk road; Sirtica; Wadi Tessina in 
Kufra Oasis.” The Kufra record noted by Loveridge and Williams (1957) traces to Werner’s (1909) 
reference to the book title “Kufra” in which the specimen was noted by Wilhelm Peters (1880, 
1881), and not the locality (see Comments under T. graeca ). Anderson (1898) and Wemer (1909) 
considered this specimen — listed as a T. graeca by Peters — to be T. leithi [= T. kleinmanni ]. 
Although the specimen is now lost (Schneider and Schneider 2008) and its identity cannot now be 
confirmed, we consider Peters’ original identification to be correct. We accept the interpretation of 
Peters’ other Libyan tortoise record, from Bir-Milhra, as T. kleinmanni, as argued by Schneider and 
Schneider (2008), who investigated all earlier records for T. kleinmanni in Libya. 
Arbel (1984) did not include even eastern Libya in the range of T. kleinmanni (fide Fritz and 
Buskirk 1997), but records from northern Cyrenaica have generally been regarded as valid (e.g., 
Buskirk 1985; Le Berre 1989; Schleich et al. 1996). However, localities to the west, e.g. “Sirtica” 
[= Sirte, or perhaps the general region of northern Libya west of the heavily populated areas of 
Cyrenaica (Schneider and Schneider 2008)] have been controversial (e.g., Perala 2005). Iverson 
(1986, 1992) mapped the Sirte locality as well as one (1992) or two (1986) localities in the vicin¬ 
ity of Tripoli. According to Fritz and Buskirk (1997) these localities correspond to “Homs” = Al 
Khums (ZMH R 00616) and “between Tarhuna and Bin Ghashir” (RMNH 11362) and suggest that 
the Tripolitanian records for this species are valid. Fritz and Buskirk (1997) also enumerated other 
vouchered and unvouchered records from Tripolitania and Hlawatch (2009) confirmed the pres¬ 
ence of the species near Misratah. Schneider and Schneider (2008) mapped additional localities 
without providing exact coordinates, these are not included in our list. 
Localities listed above with an asterisk (*) are vouchered by specimens NMP6V 72917/1^4. 
However, as noted by Siroky and Fritz (2007), it is unclear which of the four specimens is associ¬ 
ated with which of the two localities. 
IUCN Threat Status.— Critically Endangered A2abcd + 3d. Ongoing decline is largely due 
to agriculture and the pet trade (Perala 2003). This species is now extirpated in portions of its range 
(Gaza, and much of its former Egyptian range). 
