Cchelonoidis chilensis (Argentine Tortoise)

Abstract

Argentina: Neuquén: Departamento Añelo: 25.5 km SE Señal Cerro Bayo YPF oil company base camp, 11 km W Ruta Provincial 8, 8.2 km from E Auca Mahuida Natural Protected Area eastern border, next to a rural booth (37.8203°S, 68.5688°W; WGS 84), 670 m elev. 5 March 2011. L. J. Avila, I. Minoli, M. Kozykariski, D. J. Alvares, and S. Quiroga. Verified by Jorge D. Williams. Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales Luciano Javier Avila Mariana Morando - Centro Nacional Patagónico, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina (LJAMM-CNP 14348; carapace and bones, adult male). Adjacent to road between oil rigs, 1.6 km NW Morro Partido, 16 km SE Señal Cerro Bayo YPF oil company base camp (37.7424°S, 68.6300°W; WGS 84), 792 m elev. 5 March 2011. L. J. Avila, I. Minoli, M. Kozykariski, D. J. Alvares, and S. Quiroga. Verified by Jorge D. Williams. LJAMM-CNP 14349 (carapace, limbs, and jaw bones; adult female). Access road to San Roque oil field operated by YPF oil company, 24.3 km NE from Provincial Route 7, 14 km SE San Roque town (38.0984°S, 68.8165°W; WGS 84), 236 m elev. 21 Jan 2020. M. V. Brizio and L. J. Avila. LJAMMCNP 18499 (scale of an adult specimen). Access road to Aguada Pichana, 25 km from Provincial Route 7 and 3.4 km from the Total Austral plant in Aguada Pichana (38.3773°S, 69.1363°W; WGS 84), 376 m elev. 25 March 2021. M. V. Brizio and M. E. Rodriguez Araujo. LJAMM-CNP RF 1354 (photo voucher). Chelonoidis chiliensis is a widely distributed species in Monte and Chaco phytogeographic regions and some ecotones with Espinal and Yungas in Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Chaco, Córdoba, Formosa, Jujuy, La Pampa, La Rioja, Mendoza, Neuquén, Río Negro, Salta, San Juan, San Luis, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán, Argentina, eastern Bolivia and western Paraguay. These are the first province records based on voucher specimens, and all other citations for Neuquén are unvouchered observations of wild specimens or unvouchered genetic data (Richard and De La Fuente 1992. Acta Zool. Lilloana 41:357–364; Sanchez et al. 2014. Herpetozoa 26:159–167; Ruete and Leynaud 2015. PeerJ 3:e1298). These records extend the known distribution of the species more than 100 km west from the only vouchered records in La Pampa (Tiranti and Avila 1997. Bull. Maryland Herpetol. Soc. 33:97–117), Rio Negro (Burskirk 1993. Stud. Neotrop. Fauna E. 28:233–249) and Mendoza (Cabrera 1995. An. Mus. Hist. Nat. Valp. 23:41–52) and confirm observational records for eastern Neuquén.