Travancore Tortoise

Open encyclopedia reference

The Travancore tortoise (Indotestudo travancorica) is a large forest tortoise growing up to 330 millimetres (13 in) in length. The species was first described by George Albert Boulenger in 1907. It primarily feeds on grasses and herbs. It also feeds on molluscs, insects, animal carcass, fungi and fruits. It occurs in hill forests at 450–850 m elevation. Males combat by ramming their shell during their breeding season between November and March. It makes a shallow nest in the ground and lay 1 to 5 eggs. Hatchlings are 55–60 mm in size. The tortoise is hunted and it is threatened due to forest fires, habitat destruction and fragmentation. Identification: a scute right behind the head is absent and the second scute along the vertebral column is located at the highest point of the shell. Status: IUCN Red list - vulnerable; Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act: Schedule IV. Distribution: restricted to the Western Ghats, in the Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Wikipedia contributors, Travancore tortoise; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:40:17.158366+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Indotestudo travancorica (Boulenger, 1907)

Name authority

(Boulenger, 1907)

Common name

Travancore Tortoise

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Testudines

Family

Testudinidae

Genus

Indotestudo

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.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
9. orderTestudines Batsch, 1788
10. suborderCryptodira
11. superfamilyTestudinoidea
12. familyTestudinidae
13. genusIndotestudo
14. speciesIndotestudo travancorica (Boulenger, 1907)

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 37 records assigned to Testudinidae.

Names & synonyms

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

Documented distribution

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

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.

1. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Indotestudo&species=travancorica 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:3PNQX. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.