 The former two are somewhat more similar to each other than to the Greek tortoise regarding DNA sequence data.Considering biogeography, however, this is either due to (rather unlikely) dispersal across the Mediterranean, or the supposed "clade" is invalid and the similarity due to convergent evolution.The Negev subpopulation had been separated as a distinct species, "Negev tortoise" ("Testudo werneri"), as it did not appear to have distinct or strongly reduced haplotype diversity, consistent with the recent extinction of the Egyptian population and slow DNA sequence evolution rates in "Testudo".