Herein, we describe Alatochelon myrteum gen. et sp. nov., a large tortoise from the
post-Messinian (lower Pliocene) of the area of Puerto de la Cadena (Region of Murcia),
Spain. The new taxon cannot be attributed to Titanochelon, which represented the only
lineage of large tortoises previously recognized in the Neogene record of Europe.
Alatochelon myrteum shows African affinities, especially with the extant African spurred
tortoise Centrochelys sulcata. Although close phylogenetic relationships have previously
been recognized among some tortoises of both continents, the dispersal of this lineage
had always been proposed as having occurred in only one direction: from Europe to
Africa. The dispersal of the lineage including the new Spanish form and Centrochelys
sulcata from Africa to Europe is proposed here. This proposal is compatible with those
previously recognized for some lineages of mammals also found in Puerto de la Cadena,
identified as African lineages that probably reached Europe during the Messinian Salinity
Crisis event. An African origin is also proposed for the lineage of Titanochelon.
Therefore, the two lineages of large derived testudinids (i.e. Geochelona) recognized
in the European record experienced diachronic dispersal events from Africa to Europe:
that to which Alatochelon belongs probably during the Messinian and the other much
earlier, at the beginning of the Miocene or before.
