View article

We examined the phylogeography and history of giant Galàpagos tortoise populations based on mito‐chondrial DNA sequence data from 161 individuals from 21 sampling sites representing the 11 currently recognized extant taxa. Molecular clock and geological considerations indicate a founding of the monophyletic Galàpagos lineage around 2–3 million years ago, which would allow for all the diversification to have occurred on extant islands. Founding events generally occurred from geologically older to younger islands with some islands colonized more than once. Six of the 11 named taxa can be associated with monophyletic maternal lineages. One, Geochelone porteri on Santa Cruz Island, consists of two distinct populations connected by the deepest node in the archipelago‐wide phylogeny, whereas tortoises in northwest Santa Cruz are closely related to those on adjacent Pinzón Island. Volcan Wolf …