NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Berger’s Cape Tortoise

Chersobius solus (Branch, 2007)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Open encyclopedia reference

Chersobius solus, commonly known as the Nama dwarf tortoise, the Nama padloper, and Berger's cape tortoise, is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is endemic to Namibia.

Wikipedia contributors, Chersobius solus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:02:20.317361+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name: Chersobius solus (Branch, 2007)
Name authority: (Branch, 2007)
Common name: Berger’s Cape Tortoise
Rank: species
Accepted status: accepted
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Family: Testudinidae
Genus: Chersobius
Extinction status: Not supplied by this source

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
subphylumVertebrata
infraphylumGnathostomata
parvphylumOsteichthyes
megaclassTetrapoda
classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
orderTestudines Batsch, 1788
suborderCryptodira
superfamilyTestudinoidea
familyTestudinidae
genusChersobius
speciesChersobius solus (Branch, 2007)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 37 records assigned to Testudinidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded name	Source status
Homopus bergeri Lindholm, 1906 Lindholm, 1906	ambiguous synonym
Homopus solus Branch, 2007 Branch, 2007	synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

S Namibia (escarpment mountains near Aus, but with scattered records from other isolated mountains in the sand and gravel plains of the southern Namib Desert, e.g., the Kowiesberg near Luderitz, low granite hills 4-5 km SW from Tschaukaib siding (2615Da), and 2-3 km SE from Haalenberg siding)

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Chersobius&species=solus Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:8GPG7. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.