A New Tortoise, Genus Gopherus, From North-central Mexico

The text says that in the course of taxonomic studies of the genus Gopherus it was found that specimens from north-central Mexico belong to an hitherto unrecognized species, which is named and described below. The holotype is listed as U.S. National Museum 61253, adult, a stuffed specimen with disassociated skull, from 30 to 40 miles from Lerdo, Durango, Mexico, obtained by Dr. Elswood Chaffee, 1918. The diagnosis describes a large tortoise of the genus Gopherus, having a flat-topped, posteriorly-flared shell and a relatively wider skull than other Mexican representatives of the genus.

The description gives the ground color of the carapace as pale yellow to straw in smaller specimens and pale brown in larger specimens. The text says G. flavomarginatus is known only from the three localities represented in the type series and from the indefinite locality, "Bolson de Mapimí", Chihuahua. The text says that long-doubted references of Duges to Gopherus polyphemus seem clearly to represent G. flavomarginatus, which probably occurs in several or all of the internally drained basins in northeastern Chihuahua, western Coahuila, and northern Durango. A list of works cited gives, among others, Duges, A. 1888, La Tortuga Polifemo, La Naturaleza.