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Desert tortoises (  Testudines  ;   Testudinidae  ;    Gopherus   agassizii    group) have an extensive distribution throughout the Mojave, Colorado, and Sonoran desert regions. Not surprisingly, they exhibit a tremendous amount of ecological, behavioral, morphological and genetic variation.    Gopherus   agassizii    was considered a single species for almost 150 years but recently the species was split into the nominate form and Morafka’s desert tortoise,    G.   morafkai   , the latter occurring south and east of the Colorado River. Whereas a large body of literature focuses on tortoises in the United States, a dearth of investigations exists for Mexican animals. Notwithstanding, Mexican populations of desert tortoises in the southern part of the range of    G.   morafkai    are distinct, particularly where the tortoises occur in tropical thornscrub and tropical deciduous forest. Recent studies have shed light on the ecology, morphology and genetics of these southern ‘desert’ tortoises. All evidence warrants recognition of this clade as a distinctive taxon and herein we describe it as    Gopherus   evgoodei    sp. n.  The description of the new species significantly reduces and limits the distribution of    G.   morafkai    to desertscrub habitat only. By contrast,    G.   evgoodei    sp. n.  occurs in thornscrub and tropical deciduous forests only and this leaves it with the smallest range of the three sister species. We present conservation implications for the newly described    Gopherus   evgoodei   , which already faces impending threats.

The desert tortoise trichotomy: Mexico hosts a third, new sister-species of tortoise in the Gopherus morafkai – G. agassizii group