Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle
Specialist Group
Turtles of the World Checklist
Download pdf (Checklist 000.v4)
Turtles of the World, 2011 Update:
Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group*
*Authorship of this article is by this working group of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group,
which for the purposes of this document consisted of the following contributors:
Peter Paul van Dijk1, John B. Iverson2,
H. Bradley Shaffer3,4, Roger Bour5, and Anders G.J. Rhodin6
1Deputy Chair, IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group,
Conservation International, 2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 500, Arlington, Virginia 22202 USA [p.vandijk@conservation.org];
2Department of Biology, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana 47374 USA [johni@earlham.edu];
3Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, California 95616 USA;
4Present Address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Institute of the Environment and Sustainability,
University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095 USA [hbshaffer@ucdavis.edu];
5Laboratoire des Reptiles et Amphibiens, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France [bour.roger@gmail.com];
6Chair, IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group,
Chelonian Research Foundation, 168 Goodrich St., Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 USA [rhodincrf@aol.com]
Abstract. – This is our fifth annual compilation of an annotated checklist of all recognized and named taxa of the world’s modern chelonian fauna, documenting recent changes and controversies in nomenclature, and including all primary synonyms, updated from our previous four checklists (Turtle Taxonomy Working Group 2007b, 2009, 2010; Rhodin et al. 2008). We continue to provide an updated comprehensive listing of important aspects of taxonomy, names, distribution, and conservation status of all turtles and tortoises of the world. We strive to record the most recent justified taxonomic assignment of terminal taxa in a hierarchical framework, providing annotations, including alternative possible arrangements, for some recently proposed changes. We provide common English names and detailed distributional data for all taxa, listing occurrence by countries and many smaller political or geographic subunits (states or regions), including indications of native, extirpated, and introduced (modern or prehistoric) populations. We also include current published and draft IUCN Red List status determinations for all turtles, as well as CITES listings. The diversity of turtles and tortoises in the world that has existed in modern times (since 1500 AD), and currently generally recognized as distinct and included on this checklist, now consists of 330 species. Of these, 57 are polytypic, representing 125 additional recognized subspecies, or 455 total taxa of modern turtles and tortoises. Of these, 8 species and 2 subspecies, or 10 taxa, are extinct. As of the current IUCN 2011 Red List, 134 turtle species (58.8% of 228 species listed, 40.6% of all species) are officially regarded as globally Threatened (Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable). We now record additional draft Red List evaluations of the 102 previously “unevaluated” species, and updated draft re-evaluations of previously listed species, allowing us to evaluate the overall current threat levels for all turtles and tortoises. Of the 330 total species of turtles and tortoises, 149 (45.2%) are Threatened, with 98 (29.7%) Critically Endangered or Endangered. If we adjust for predicted threat rates of Data Deficient species, then 52% of all turtles are Threatened. If we include Extinct in the Wild and Extinct species, then 48.0% of all modern turtles and tortoises are recorded as either already extinct or threatened with extinction, with a predicted rate of 55% threatened and extinct. Turtles are among the most endangered of the major groups of vertebrates, surpassing birds, mammals, cartilaginous or bony fishes, and amphibians.
Key Words. – Reptilia, Testudines, turtle, tortoise, chelonian, taxonomy, nomenclature, genera, species, subspecies, primary synonyms, suprageneric hierarchy, systematics, common names, distribution, introduced species, conservation status, IUCN Red List, CITES, threatened species, extinction
Citation:
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group [van Dijk, P.P., Iverson, J.B., Shaffer, H.B., Bour, R., and Rhodin, A.G.J.]. 2011. Turtles of the world, 2011 update: annotated checklist of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution, and conservation status. In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Pritchard, P.C.H., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A., Buhlmann, K.A., Iverson, J.B., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Monographs No. 5, pp. 000.165–000.242, doi:10.3854/crm.5.000.checklist.v4.2011, http://www.iucn–tftsg.org/cbftt/.
Download pdf (Checklist 000.v4)
(Acrobat Version 6.0 Required)
Link to Online Turtle Taxonomic Literature Database
consisting of
(1) All Primary Taxonomic Literature
(2) Additional Literature cited in Checklist Introduction and Annotations
from this and all our earlier checklists
Downloadable pdf's of Previously Published Checklists Available Here
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group 2010 (Checklist 000.v3)
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group 2009 (Checklist 000.v2)
Rhodin et al. 2008 (Checklist 000.v1)