A DNA study revealed that giant tortoises living on the island of San Cristobal in the Galapagos archipelago, form a new species previously unknown to scientists.

“The genus of giant tortoises that spread on the island of San Cristobal and was called by scientists Kelonoides catamensis is genetically related to a different genus,” the Ecuadorean Ministry of Environment said in a statement via Twitter.

Researchers from the University of Newcastle, the British University of Yale, the American NGO Galapagos Conservancy and other institutions studied the genetic components of the turtles currently found on San Cristobal, an island stretching 557 kilometers, and compared them with bones and snails collected in 1906 by the California Academy of Sciences inside a cave in the highlands. Al Jazeera.

When characterizing the species “Kilonoides catamensis”, members of the team of explorers who collected the bones from the cave had never set foot in the lowlands northeast of San Cristobal, where the turtles currently live.

Thus, the scientists concluded that the approximately 8,000 tortoises currently in San Cristobal may not be Chelonoides catamensis, but rather a completely new species.

The Galapagos Conservancy said in a separate statement that the turtle family Kylonoides catamensis in the San Cristobal highlands is “almost completely extinct,” noting that the island includes two different species of turtles, one living in the highlands and the second in the low areas, according to “AFP”. .

The study, whose results were published in the scientific journal Heritage, will continue by collecting more DNA samples from bones and snails to determine whether to give a new name to the turtles in San Cristobal.

Millions of years ago, the sea divided San Cristobal into two parts, each with its own kind of turtle, but when the sea level fell, the two parts of the island merged, and so did their turtles.

The Galapagos Islands on the World Heritage List are rich in flora and fauna unique in the world, and they are also named after the giant Galapagos tortoises.

The islands were originally home to 15 species of giant tortoises, including three that became extinct centuries ago, according to the Galapagos National Park.