Turtle Pictures
| Turtles and Tortoises: Order Testudines Box and Pond Turtles: Family Emydidae Blanding's Turtles: Genus Emydoidea Blanding's Turtle Box Turtles: Genus Terrapene Western Box Turtle Eastern Box Turtle Gulf Coast Box Turtle Chicken Turtles: Genus Deirochelys Chicken Turtle Cooters: Genus Pseudemys Eastern River Cooter Peninsula Cooter Diamondback Terrapins: Genus Malaclemys Diamondback Terrapin Leaf Turtles: Genus Geoemyda Vietnamese Leaf Turtle Pond Turtles: Genus Clemmys Western Pond Turtle Sliders: Genus Trachemys Red-eared Slider Yellow-bellied Slider Painted Terrapins: Genus Callagur Painted Terrapin Pignose Turtles: Family Carettochelyidae Pig-nosed Turtle Sea Turtles: Family Cheloniidae Green Sea Turtle Softshell Turtles: Family Trionychidae North American Softshell Turtles: Apalone Softshell Turtle Side-necked Turtles: Family Chelidae Side-necked Turtles Tortoises: Family Testudinidae Native Species Desert Tortoise Gopher Tortoise Texas Tortoise Non-native Species Aldabra Tortoise Burmese Brown Tortoise Galapagos Tortoise Miscellaneous Types of Turtles Sea Turtle Facts Turtle Clip Art |
Turtles are reptiles with shells, and the name turtle applies to over three hundred species in the order Testudines.
The order consists of familiar families such as sea turtles, tortoises and box turtles, as well as less known families such as Pig-nosed Turtles.
Often turtles are differentiated according to their primarily habitat, with tortoises living on land, turtles living in and around fresh water environments and sea turtles living in salt water environments.
The freshwater and land turtles belonging to Emydidae constitute the largest family of turtles in both number of species and their range. It contains many familiar North American species.
At the other end of the size scale, the Family Carettochelyidae (pignose turtles) and the Family Dermochelyidae (leatherback turtle) each consist of a single species.
Turtle populations are declining in many areas due to habitat destruction and overfishing.
The links in the box on the right point to articles that provide pictures and descriptions of a representative sample of turtle species in seven of the eleven Testudines families.
© 2009 Patricia A. Michaels