Testudo terrestris Garsault, 1764

Dubois, Alain & Bour, Roger, 2010, The nomenclatural status of the nomina of amphibians and reptiles created by Garsault (1764), with a parsimonious solution to an old nomenclatural problem regarding the genus Bufo (Amphibia, Anura), comments on the taxonomy of this genus, and comments on some nomina created by Laurenti (1768), Zootaxa 2447, pp. 1-52 : 31

Testudo terrestris Garsault, 1764

The upper half of plate 675 in Garsault (1764) shows his Testudo terrestris or “Tortue terrestre”, which is undoubtedly a freshwater turtle, precisely a European pond turtle, currently known as Emys orbicularis ( Linnaeus, 1758) (family EMYDIDAE Rafinesque, 1815 ). Therefore Testudo terrestris Garsault, 1764 is a junior doxisonym of Testudo orbicularis Linnaeus, 1758 . Two subspecies of Emys orbicularis are presently recognized among the French continental populations: Emys orbicularis orbicularis ( Linnaeus, 1758) and Emys orbicularis galloitalica Fritz, 1995 , with large zones of intergradation ( Rogner 2009: 44). It is probably impossible to identify at the subspecific level the turtle figured by Garsault (1764). In the northern half of France, the occurring subspecies is or was Emys orbicularis orbicularis ( Linnaeus, 1758) (e.g. Rogner 2009), so we refer Testudo terrestris Garsault, 1764 to this subspecies.

Testudo terrestris Garsault, 1764 is a senior hadromonym of Testudo terrestris Forskål, 1775 (author’s name often misspelt “Forsskål”, but see Dubois 2008 a). The latter nomen was “rediscovered” by Wermuth (1956), who first planned to ask the ICZN for its suppression, but a little latter (1958: 152) attributed it to a population of tortoises living in “ Südwestliches Asien ( Syrien und Israel) und nordwestliches Afrika (vom nördlichen Ägypten westwärts bis Libyen) ”. In order to clarify and stabilize the nomenclatural status of this nomen, Perälä & Bour (2004) designated a neophoront for it. Although less than the other nomina for which we used the “ reversal of precedence ” Rule in this paper, the nomen Testudo terrestris Forskål, 1775 has been commonly used since Wermuth’s (1958) publication. We were able to find more than 25 publications by more than 10 different authors in the immediately preceding 50 years (see Appendix 2). Therefore, the prevailing usage must be maintained according to Art. 23.9.1 of the Code. The nomen Testudo terrestris Garsault, 1764 is thus now an exoplonym and will not be available in the future if the need appears to recognize a taxon corresponding to this nomen, e. g. a subspecies of Emys orbicularis ( Linnaeus, 1758) .