[An Nahar] A Seychelles freshwater turtle species declared extinct after decades of futile searches, in fact never existed, scientists said Thursday.While Man has the extinction of several turtle and tortoise species on his conscience, DNA evidence has now cleared him of exterminating Pelusios seychellensis, a team from Germany and Austria wrote in the journal PloS One.
"It never existed," the researchers said.
Genetic comparisons showed the species to be one and the same as a widespread West African turtle called Pelusios castaneus, of which a handful of individuals may have been brought to the archipelago by humans long ago, and mistaken for endemic.
Even more likely -- dried museum specimens of the now discredited P seychellensis were wrongly labelled as originating in the Seychelles, said the team.