Desert Turtle

So there's a new species out there
running around...
eating things...
I know we all thought that the world has been explored there is nothing new out there to get our name put on as an announcement for future generations that we ran around naming things.
But here it is....
A semi endangered species of tortoise has through genetic analysis been classified as two distinct species.
For you people out there dying to know the scientific name:
Gopherus agassizii (aka Desert Tortoise) has "officially" become Gopherus agassizii (Mohave Desert Tortoise) and  Gopherus morafkai (Sonoran Desert Tortoise)
       So wait...
There is not actually a "new" species out there running around, eating things
There is an old species that had to go to court to change its name.
       So I ask...
Why go through all the trouble?

1. So Morafka can have a species named after him/her
2. So we can increase the number of species on the planet (without actually increasing the number of beings on the planet) cool huh
3. So we can roadblock energy development in the Mohave Desert
4. All of the above

By separating a threatened species into two distinct species, that threatened species all of a sudden... can become more threatened or even ... endangered
If the words Endangered Species Act are running through your head your on the right track.

So here we have the story of a lone desert turtle, minding its own business, running around, eating things...it does not know what is happening in the world around it.

Will this turtle have a home in 10 years?
Will this tortoise have a home in 10 years?
Will this threatened tortoise have a home in 10 years?
Will this endangered tortoise have a home in 10 years?
What is in a name?


Murphy R. W., Berry K. H., Edwards, T., Leviton, A. E., Lathrop, A., and Riedle, J. D. (2011) The dazed and confused identity of Agassiz's land tortoise, Gopherus agassizii (Testudines: Testudinidae) with the description of a new species and its consequences for conservation. ZooKeys 113: 39-71.
doi: 10.3897/zookeys.113.1353