The turtle species Pelusios seychellensis regarded hitherto
as extinct never existed. Scientists at the Senckenberg Research Institute in
Dresden discovered this based on genetic evidence. The relevant study was
published today in the journal PLOS ONE.
Turtles are the vertebrates under the greatest threat. Among
the approximately 320 turtle species, the species confined to islands have been
especially hard hit – humans have caused the extinction of a whole number of
species. One of them – or at least it was thought so – is the Seychelles mud
turtle Pelusios seychellensis. Just three specimens were collected at the end
of the 19th century; they are still kept at the Natural History Museum in
Vienna and the Zoological Museum in Hamburg.