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Hesperotestudo Crassicutata


MarkGelbart

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Does anybody have any photos of Hesperotestudo crassicutata fossil specimens I can use for my book--Georgia Before People.

I can't afford to pay for them because my book is probably a non-profit enterprise.

I think the most interesting thing about this species is the tongue-twisting scientific name.

Too bad scientists couldn't just stick with the original--geochelone. It was a lot easier to spell.

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Does anybody have any photos of Hesperotestudo crassicutata fossil specimens I can use for my book--Georgia Before People.

I can't afford to pay for them because my book is probably a non-profit enterprise.

I think the most interesting thing about this species is the tongue-twisting scientific name.

Too bad scientists couldn't just stick with the original--geochelone. It was a lot easier to spell.

You might try contacting the University of Florida. I believe the person to ask would be George Hecht. I don't have his contact info but you might find it on the university site.

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  • 1 month later...

Just noticed this thread.. have a couple of Hesperotestudo crassicutata carapace frags from the Santa Fe we found this summer.

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~Mike

All your fossils are belong to us

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Hesperotestudo is easier to pronounce! And simpler taxonomically. Geochelone still applies to modern tortoises, but fossil-wise was a total garbage can taxon which ended up being horribly bloated and para/polyphyletic. Change toward more representative and accurate taxonomy is good... Anyway, there's a lot about Hesperotestudo that's more interesting than its name. Much shorter than Parapropaleohoplophorus...

Bobby

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ok, bobby, or anybody who's wise regarding giant land tortoise-looking things that no longer live here. occasionally tj (never me) will find large, thick pieces of obvious shell from turtleortoises that obviously don't live around here on the gulf coast of texas any more because it'd be seriously in the news if somebody had seen one. i, knowing nothing about such things, refer to these important finds as either "giant land tortoise" pieces, or "geochelone" pieces, depending upon how smart i want to seem at the moment, or whether i'm talking to a regular person i'm trying to impress or just tj.

due to this thread, i've suddenly been filled with uncertainty, which although not a new state for me, is nonetheless undesired. am i mispolyphyletizing or something? are our geochelone pieces actually hesperotestudo pieces engaged in some elaborate hoax or what?

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Good question tracer. According to a friend of mine who did his master's thesis on Gopherine tortoises at San Diego State, quite complete shells are typically required, usually complete, for a specific determination (although another turtle paleontologist, and one of the most prolific field men I've ever heard of, J. Howard Hutchison (UC Berkeley) can identify broken pieces of turtle shell to a family (or often genus) based simply on the shell ornamentation and cross sectional profile.

That being said, your piece may belong to Geochelone or Hesperotestudo - but if I remember correctly, the taxonomic restriction of Geochelone may make many more species be transferred over to Hesperotestudo, potentially including your fossil - however, for the time being, we can safely identify it as "Testudinidae" genus and species indeterminate.

Bobby

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