Tortoises are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines. Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like other members of the suborder Cryptodira, they retract their necks and heads directly backward into the shell to protect them.
Giant tortoises are any of several species of various large land tortoises, which include a number of extinct species, as well as two extant species with multiple subspecies formerly common on the islands of the western Indian Ocean and on the Galápagos Islands.
The marginated tortoise is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is endemic to Greece, Italy, and the Balkans in Southern Europe. It is the largest European tortoise. The marginated tortoise is herbivorous, and brumates for the winter.
Hermann's tortoise is a species of tortoise native to Europe.
Testudo, the Mediterranean tortoises, are a genus of tortoises found in North Africa, Western Asia, and Europe. Several species are under threat in the wild, mainly from habitat destruction.
Nuralagus is an extinct genus of leporid, with a single species, Nuralagus rex, described in 2011. It lived on Menorca, one of the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean during the Pliocene epoch. It is the largest known lagomorph to have ever existed, with an estimated weight of 8–12 kilograms (18–26 lb), nearly double the weight of the average Flemish Giant rabbit. It likely went extinct at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition when Mallorca and Menorca were united as one island, letting the mammalian fauna of Mallorca, including the goat-like ungulate Myotragus, colonize Nuralagus's habitat.
Palaeoloxodon falconeri is an extinct species of dwarf elephant from the Middle Pleistocene of Sicily and Malta. It is amongst the smallest of all dwarf elephants at under 1 metre (3.3 ft) in height. A member of the genus Palaeoloxodon, it derived from a population of the mainland European straight-tusked elephant.
Kleinmann's tortoise, also called commonly the Egyptian tortoise, Leith's tortoise, and the Negev tortoise, is a critically endangered species of cryptodire turtle in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to Libya and possibly extinct in Egypt. The species was once more widespread, but its numbers are now dwindling, and complete extinction in the wild is a looming threat unless more actions are taken to protect this species.
The yellow-footed tortoise, also known as the Brazilian giant tortoise, is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae and is closely related to the red-footed tortoise. It is found in the Amazon Basin of South America. The species name has often been misspelled as denticulata, an error introduced in the 1980s when Chelonoidis was elevated to genus and mistakenly treated as feminine, an error recognized and fixed in 2017.
The Sicilian shrew is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Sicily (Italy) and Gozo (Malta). Its natural habitat is temperate shrubland.
Asoriculus is an extinct genus of terrestrial shrews in the subfamily Soricinae and tribe Nectogalini, native to Europe and North Africa.
Hesperotestudo is an extinct genus of tortoise native to North and Central America from the Early Miocene to the Late Pleistocene. Species of Hesperotestudo varied widely in size, with a large undescribed specimen from the Late Pleistocene of El Salvador reaching
Chelonoidis is a genus of turtles in the tortoise family erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1835. They are found in South America and the Galápagos Islands, and formerly had a wide distribution in the West Indies.
Hypnomys, otherwise known as Balearic giant dormice, is an extinct genus of dormouse (Gliridae) in the subfamily Leithiinae. Its species are considered examples of insular gigantism. They were endemic to the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean from the Early Pliocene until their extinction around 4,000 years ago. They first appeared in the fossil record on Mallorca during the Early Pliocene, presumably due to the Messinian salinity crisis causing a connection with mainland Europe. They later spread to Menorca, and a possible molar is also known from Ibiza. Hypnomys became extinct during the Holocene after human arrival on the Balearics. They were one of only three native land mammals to the islands at the time of human arrival, alongside the shrew Nesiotites and goat-antelope Myotragus.
Pterodromoides is an extinct genus of fulmarine petrel dating from the Late Miocene. It contains a single species, P. minoricensis. Its fossil remains were first discovered at the Punta Nati palaeontological site on the island of Menorca in the Balearic archipelago of the western Mediterranean. An additional specimen from North Carolina, USA has also been referred to this species, suggesting it lived across the North Atlantic. It was described in 2001, with the authors justifying the creation of a new genus by the large orbitonasal opening and characters of the postcranial skeleton, despite the similarity of the cranial osteology to that of Pagodroma.
Megalochelys is an extinct genus of tortoises that lived from the Miocene to Pleistocene. They are noted for their giant size, the largest known for any tortoise, with a maximum carapace length of over 2 m (6.5 ft) in M. atlas. The genus ranged from western India and Pakistan to as far east as Sulawesi and Timor in Indonesia, though the island specimens likely represent distinct species.
The Tenerife giant tortoise is an extinct species of cryptodire turtle in the family Testudinidae endemic to the island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands during the Middle Pleistocene.
Centrochelys is a genus of tortoise. It contains one living species, the African spurred tortoise, native to the Sahel and adjacent areas. A number of fossil species have been attributed to this genus, but their placement in the genus is considered equivocal.
Titanochelon is an extinct genus of giant tortoises known from the Early Miocene to the beginning of the Pleistocene in Europe, extending from the Iberian Peninsula to Anatolia. Some members of the genus were larger than extant giant tortoises, with a shell length of up to 2 m.
Chelonoidis monensis, also known as the Mona tortoise, is an extinct species of land tortoise that lived on the island of Mona from the Late Pleistocene to around 1000 BCE. Evidence for the latter date includes cave drawings. All fossil remains have been found either in or near Liro Cave on the east side of Mona. It had a carapace length of around 50 cm (20 in).
