Gopherus polyphemus

The gopher tortoise is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide shelter for at least 360 other animal species. G. polyphemus is threatened by predation and habitat destruction. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the gopher tortoise as "critically endangered," primarily because of habitat fragmentation and loss, and human exploitation; the animals are considered threatened in some states, while they are endangered in others.

Gopherus polyphemus

Judy Gallagher · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
Florida gopher tortoisePBDB
Sits inside
GopherusPBDB
Diet
herbivore, herbivorePBDB, for Testudinidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Testudinidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Testudinidae

Time the record covers

At least 1.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 4.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 2 of 35 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 28 of 35 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 5 of 35 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.2–1.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.0–867 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence867 ka–693 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence693 ka–520 ka Mya — about 1.0 occurrences520 ka–347 ka Mya — about 1.0 occurrences347 ka–173 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences173 ka–0 Mya — about 20 occurrences1.8 Mya11.7 ka5.2 Mya0 Mya

35 occurrences of Gopherus polyphemus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

35 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Bermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WFort Thompson — 27.80°N, 82.80°WSilver Bluff — 32.56°N, 80.29°WCanepatch — 33.68°N, 78.88°W

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The named rock units Gopherus polyphemus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 31 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Gopherus polyphemus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Gopherus polyphemus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

688 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 34 sites for Gopherus polyphemus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

13 references

Each of the 35 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 1 further reference is not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Gopherus polyphemus

Credit
Judy Gallagher
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Gopherus polyphemus · UF:Herp:182476

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itGopherus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Daudin 1802)