Turtles of the World Checklist
Purchase High-Resolution Printed Book (Hardcover or Softcover)
(Available August 2025)
Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy,
Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (10th Ed.)
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:
Anders G.J. Rhodin1,2, John B. Iverson3,4,
Uwe Fritz5, Natalia Gallego-García6, Arthur Georges7,
H. Bradley Shaffer8, and Peter Paul van Dijk1,2
1Chelonian Research Foundation, 564 Chittenden Dr., Arlington, Vermont 05250 USA [[email protected]];
2Turtle Conservancy, 1794 McNell Rd., Ojai, California 93023 USA [[email protected]];
3Department of Biology, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana 47374 USA [[email protected]];
4Turtle Survival Alliance, Director and Field Conservation Committee, North Charleston, South Carolina 29406 USA;
5Museum für Tierkunde, Senckenberg Dresden, A.B. Meyer Building, 01109 Dresden, Germany [[email protected]];
6Turtle Survival Alliance, North Charleston, South Carolina 29406 USA [[email protected]];
7Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia [[email protected]];
8Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science,
Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095 USA [[email protected]]
Abstract. – This is our 10th edition of an annotated checklist and atlas of all recognized taxa of the world’s modern turtle and tortoise fauna, documenting recent changes and controversies through mid-2025, and including all primary synonyms, updated from nine previous checklists. We provide an updated comprehensive listing of taxonomy and nomenclature, including type localities, type specimens, detailed distribution maps, as well as calculated Estimated Indigenous (Historical) Ranges, conservation status, and maximum known sex-based carapace lengths for all taxa. We strive to record the most recent justified taxonomic assignment of taxa in a hierarchical framework, providing detailed annotations, including alternative arrangements for a few taxa. We include current published and provisional IUCN Red List status assessments for all species, as well as current listings on CITES appendices and the USA Endangered Species Act. The diversity of turtles and tortoises in the world that has existed in modern times (since 1500 CE) and currently generally recognized as distinct and included in this checklist, now consists of 364 species. Of these, 60 are polytypic, representing 129 additional recognized subspecies (one unnamed), or 493 total taxa of modern chelonians, a 1.4% increase from 486 taxa in our previous checklist. Of these, 5 species and 5 subspecies (one unnamed), or 10 taxa (2.0%), are extinct. We also include a supplementary listing of 20 taxa of terrestrial chelonians that went extinct during the Holocene from ca. 10,000 BCE (ca. 12,000 ybp) to 1500 CE. As of the current IUCN 2025 Red List, 174 turtle species (62.8% of the 277 species formally Red-Listed) are officially regarded as globally Threatened (Critically Endangered [CR], Endangered [EN], or Vulnerable [VU]). We also record additional “in press” and other provisional Red List assessments by the IUCN SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, allowing us to evaluate the overall current threat levels for all 364 species of turtles and tortoises. Of these, 196 (53.8%) are Threatened (CR, EN, or VU), a 7.1% increase from 183 in 2021; if we provisionally adjust for predicted threat rates of 29 Data Deficient (DD) species, then ca. 58.5% of all extant turtles are Threatened, up from 55.9% in 2021. These numbers and percentages of Threatened species have all increased since our last checklist. Turtles and tortoises are among the most threatened of the major vertebrate lineages on earth.
Key Words. – Reptilia, Testudines, turtle, tortoise, terrapin, chelonian, taxonomy, nomenclature, systematics, distribution, maximum size, sexual dimorphism, conservation status, etymology, type localities, type specimens, IUCN Red List, CITES, ESA, extinction, Holocene
Citation:
TTWG [Turtle Taxonomy Working Group: Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., Fritz, U., Gallego-García, N., Georges, A., Shaffer, H.B., and van Dijk, P.P.]. 2025. Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (10th Ed.). In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., van Dijk, P.P., Stanford, C.B., Goode, E.V., Buhlmann, K.A., 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 10:1–575. doi:10.3854/crm.10.checklist.atlas.v10.2025.
(Acrobat Version 6.0 Required)
Purchase High-Resolution Printed Book (Hardcover or Softcover)
Downloadable pdf’s of Previously Published Checklists Available Here
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group 2021. Turtles of the World: Checklist and Atlas (9th Ed.)
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group 2017: Checklist and Atlas (8th Ed.)
Turtle Extinctions Working Group 2015 (Fossil Checklist 000e.v1)
(Extinct Pleistocene and Holocene Turtles)
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group 2014 (Checklist 000.v7)
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group 2012 (Checklist 000.v5)
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group 2011 (Checklist 000.v4)
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group 2010 (Checklist 000.v3)
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group 2009 (Checklist 000.v2)
Rhodin et al. 2008 (Checklist 000.v1)