Move over, bee! Tortoise, feared extinct, turns up again

The last one seen in 1906/John Van Denburgh

As with Wallace’s giant bee, also feared extinct,  the researchers had gone out looking for the tortoise:

“The photos from the team clearly show a moderately saddle-backed, old female about half to two-thirds the size of the known male. Pending genetic confirmation, this is almost undoubtedly the lost Fernandina Giant Tortoise,” says Anders Rhodin from the Turtle Conservancy and International Union for Conservation of Nature, in the statement.

The team members suspect more tortoises may live on Fernandina because of scat and tracks they observed there.Carolyn Wilke, “Tortoise Not Seen for 113 Years Found on Galapagos Island” at The Scientist

The tortoise (Chelonoidis phantastica), moved to a breeding center, may be more than 100 years old.

See also: Alfred Russel Wallace’s Giant Bee Turns Out Not To Be Extinct

Assumed extinct, tree kangaroo reappears

and

Extinction (or maybe not): New Scientist offers five “Lazarus species”

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