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Reptilia    Testudines    Testudinidae  

Gopher Tortoise
Gopherus polyphemus (Daudin, 1802)
GOH-fer-us — PAWL-ee-FEE-mus

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

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Occurrences:; 21,870 Total; 2,900 Museum; 18,970 Other
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: Alabama Florida Georgia Louisiana Mississippi South Carolina

Taxonomic Etymology:
The name honors the tortoise's burrowing behavior and alludes to the mythical Cyclops Polyphemus —likely referencing its strong, solitary, and somewhat primitive appearance.
Gopherus — Refers to its burrowing behavior, like that of a gopher. Latinized with -us to form a standard masculine genus name
polyphemus — From Polyphemus (Greek: Πολύφημος), the Cyclops from Homer’s Odyssey. Polyphemus was a large, primitive, solitary figure—attributes metaphorically applied to the gopher tortoise:

First instance(s) of published English names:
Gopher (Testudo gopher: Gray, John E. 1856. Catalogue of shield reptiles in the collection of the British Museum. Part I. Testudinata (Tortoises). Taylor and Francis, London, England. 79pp.); Mongofa (Testudo gopher: Gray, John E. 1856. Catalogue of shield reptiles in the collection of the British Museum. Part I. Testudinata (Tortoises). Taylor and Francis, London, England. 79pp.); Carolina Gopher (Testudo carolina: Jordan, David S. 1878. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Second Edition, Revised, and Enlarged. Jansen, McClurg & Company, Chicago. pp.); Gopher (Xerobates polyphemus: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Gopher Turtle (Testudo carolina: Davis, N. S. Jr. and Frank L. Rice. 1883. Descriptive catalogue of North American batrachia and reptilia, found east of Mississippi River. Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 1(5):71); Gopher (Gopherus polyphemus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Gopher Turtle (Gopherus polyphemus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1802 "1801" Daudin, Francois M. Histoire naturelle des rainettes, des grenouilles et des crapauds. [Natural history of tree frogs, frogs and toads.] Quarto version. de L'imprimerie de Bertrandet, Rue de Sorbonne, Paris, France. 468pp.
1942 Barbour, Thomas Unnecessary nomenclatorial changes. Copeia 1942(3):179
1974 Bramble, Dennis M. Occurrence and significance of the Os transiliens in gopher tortoises. Copeia 1974:102-109
1976 Auffenberg, Walter. The genus Gopherus (Testudinidae): Pt. I. Osteology and relationships of extant species. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences. 20(2):47-110
1978 Auffenberg, Walter and Franz, Richard. Gopherus.. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (211):1-2
1982 Bramble, Dennis M. Scaptochelys: Generic revision and evolution of gopher tortoises. Copeia 1982(4):852-867
2025 Bauer, Aaron M. Testudo atlas Barton, 1806, a long-forgotten synonym of the Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) and a senior secondary homonym of the largest tortoise that ever lived. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(7):101–107

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 10 August 2026 03:59 CT