Geochelone vulcanica López-Jurado & Mateo, 1993 The Gran Canaria giant tortoise[1] (Centrochelys vulcanica[2]) is an extinct species of cryptodire turtle in the family Testudinidae endemic to the island of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands.

[3] C. vulcanica is known from fossils on Gran Canaria dating to the Pliocene epoch (5.3-2.6 million years ago).

It is believed that the ancestors of these two species of giant tortoises reached the Canary Islands from North Africa.

[7] The majority of C. vulcanica fossils are of eggs and nests ranging in age from the Miocene until Pliocene.

[10][11] While often placed in the genus Centrochelys, which contains the living African spurred tortoise, the limited remains of the species make its placement in the genus uncertain, and thus the species is often referred to as "Centrochelys" vulcanica.