# Testudo Kleinmanni/werneri



## tortadise (May 5, 2014)

I have seen a lot of these species(SSP) thrown around lately. So I wanted to start this topic on the discussion. It will be pretty short and I will follow with a phylogenic findings and cited work that was done on various specimens to compare and substantiate if at all possible the Israeli (known as werneri,AKA Negev tortoise) is in fact a different species, or even a sub-species. Unfortunately it failed showing not enough haplotype differences to elevate this "species" to its own or sub species category. Yes it is a known locale species of Kleinmanni, but then again the natural range of Kleinmanni species is very sparse and blotchy along the coast of Mediterranean anyways. 

As noted the scientific findings back in 2001;

"Sequence variation of a 1066 bp long mtDNA fragment (cytochrome _b_ gene, adjacent part of tRNA-Thr gene) of four known-locality samples of _Testudo kleinmanni_ (Tripolitania, Libya) and of four samples of _T. werneri_ (Negev, Israel) is compared with additional five sequences of pet trade tortoises allegedly representing _T. kleinmanni_. Four haplotypes, differing in one to four mutation steps occur. The most common haplotype was shared by all known-locality samples of _T. kleinmanni_ and three _T. werneri_. Sequence variation within each nominal species and in the pooled sample of _T. kleinmanni, T. werneri_and pet trade tortoises is the lowest known for any _Testudo_ species. We conclude there is no support for the validity of _T. werneri_ Perälä, 2001."

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