Texas Tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri)
Texas Status Threatened Description The Texas tortoise has yellowish-orange, "horned" scutes (plates) on its shell and cylindrical and columnar hind legs, like those of an elephant.
Texas Tortoise
Relatives in same Genus
Desert Tortoise (G. agassizii)
Bolson Tortoise (G. flavomarginatus)
Gopher Tortoise (G. polyphemus) ...
Texas Tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri)
No photo of the Texas Tortoise available.
The Texas Tortoise is from the order Testudines. All turtles are testudines (or Chelonia). There are more than 280 different species belonging to this order.
Texas Tortoise
Colorado Chipmunk
Tamias quadrivittatus
Little Grebe
Tachybaptus ruficollis
The Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis), also known as Dabchick, is 23 to 29 cm in length.
None of the other tortoise species occur in the range of the desert tortoise; however, box turtles and Texas tortoises have commonly been brought into the Southwest as pets.
The desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii, inhabits deserts from S Nevada to NW Mexico; the Texas tortoise, G. berlandieri, lives in arid brush country and open woods from S Texas to NE Mexico; the gopher tortoise, G.
Around 10.5 million years ago (mid Miocene) desert tortoises may have diverged from Texas tortoises (G. berlandieri) (McCord 2002)
Lineages of Sonoran and Mojave tortoises diverged about 5 million years ago (Lamb & McLuckie 2002) ...
Desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii)
Gopher tortoise (G. polyphemus)
Texas tortoise (G. berlandieri)
Wood turtles (Clemmys insculpta)
Spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata)
Red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Snapping turtles ...
Larger mental glands are found under the chin of older males. In North America there are four extant species (desert tortoise, Texas tortoise, Bolson tortoise and the gopher tortoise), all occurring in deep sand habitats.
 See also: Tortoise, Gopher, Turtle, Reptile, Shell
  
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