Eurotestudo, a new genus for the species Testudo hermanni Gmelin, 1789 (Chelonii, Testudinidae)

The new genus is created to include the species of the hermanni group, which is within Testudo s.l., a Palearctic genus, consequently separated from both Testudo s.s. and Agrionemys. A preliminary cladistic analysis of the osteological characters, including fossil species, demonstrated the splitting of the three lineages, probably since the Oligocene and surely at the Upper Miocene. Diagnosis of the new genus is based on a collection of features. The main stages of evolution leading to the three lineages are provided. We also describe external characters of the extant species that could be considered as diagnostic. However, phylogenetic relationships between genera are not definitively established.