NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

(Florida) Gopher Tortoise

Gopherus polyphemus (Daudin, 1801)

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.

Gopher Tortoise - Gopherus polyphemus, Lake June-in-Winter Scrub State Park, Lake Placid, Florida
This is a threatened species in Florida. It is also considered a "keystone" species, as its burrows provide shelter for more than 300 species. — Gopher Tortoise - Gopherus polyphemus, Lake June-in-Winter Scrub State Park, Lake Placid, Florida This is a threatened species in Florida. It is also considered a "keystone" species, as its burrows provide shelter for more than 300 species.
Judy Gallagher · CC BY 2.0 · Image source
Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

The gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide shelter for at least 360 other animal species. G. polyphemus is threatened by predation and habitat destruction. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the gopher tortoise as "critically endangered," primarily because of habitat fragmentation and loss, and human exploitation; the animals are considered threatened in some states, while they are endangered in others.

The gopher tortoise is placed in the genus Gopherus, which contains the only tortoises native to North America. The gopher tortoise is the state reptile of Georgia and the state tortoise of Florida.

Wikipedia contributors, Gopher tortoise; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:17:46.824408+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name: Gopherus polyphemus (Daudin, 1801)
Name authority: (Daudin, 1801)
Common name: (Florida) Gopher Tortoise
Rank: species
Accepted status: accepted
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Family: Testudinidae
Genus: Gopherus
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
genusGopherus
speciesGopherus polyphemus (Daudin, 1801)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Gopherus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Species	Classification	Source status
Bolson tortoiseGopherus flavomarginatus Legler, 1959	TestudinidaeChordata	Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
(Californian) Desert TortoiseGopherus agassizii (Cooper, 1861)	TestudinidaeChordata	Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Texas (Gopher )TortoiseGopherus berlandieri (Agassiz, 1857)	TestudinidaeChordata	Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Morafka’s Desert TortoiseGopherus morafkai Murphy, Berry, Edwards, Leviton, Lathrop & Riedle, 2011	TestudinidaeChordata	Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

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
Testudo depressa Guérin-Méneville, 1829 Guérin-Méneville, 1829	synonym
Testudo atlas Barton, 1806 Barton, 1806	synonym
Testudo gopher Gray, 1844 Gray, 1844	synonym
Testudo polyphemus Daudin, 1801 Daudin, 1801	synonym
Testudo polyphaemus Bartram, 1791 Bartram, 1791	synonym

Documented distribution

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

USA (along the Atlantic Coastal Plain in S South Carolina, Georgia, S Alabama, Florida, E Louisiana, Mississippi)

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=Gopherus&species=polyphemus 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.

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:3H2LJ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.