Turtles and Tortoises
Testudines
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines (or Chelonii) characterized by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs and acting as a shield. "Turtle" may refer to the order as a whole (American English) or to fresh-water and sea-dwelling testudines (British English).
11 branches of this order, most-observed first · about 366 known species
Pond and Box Turtles
familyEmydidae
Tortoises
familyTestudinidae
Snapping Turtles
familyChelydridae
Sea Turtles
superfamilyChelonioidea
Softshell and Flapshell Turtles
familyTrionychidae
American Mud and Musk Turtles
familyKinosternidae
Side‑necked turtles
suborderPleurodira
Eurasian Pond, River, and Neotropical Wood Turtles
familyGeoemydidae
Pig-nosed Turtles
familyCarettochelyidae
Big-headed Turtles
familyPlatysternidae
Central American River Turtles
familyDermatemydidae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Testudines in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 39532.