Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Some of us criticized what the vet told patsy on her box turtle - that he said that box turtles are tortoises. I am no expert on taxonomy, but I did just look in my dad's old _Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (Copyright 1959) sitting here by the computer and it says

1) Any of a subclass (Chelonia) of reptiles; a turtle, esp. a land turtle. See TURTLE. 2) A person or animal that moves slowly.

Is that accurate? RMB probably would be best qualified to answer that... kensopher seems knowledgeable too.

"Tortoise" is not a term used in taxonomy. The dictionary is correct. "Tortoise" pretty much means however the regional slang is used. The only "correct" term, scientifically speaking, is the scientific names used in the taxonomy.
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

I asked someone who know more than I - Jim Harding. Here is his answer:

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In the United States, a tortoise is a member of the family Testudinidae (order Testudines/ Chelonia).

Generally, testudinids are entirely terrestrial, mostly hebivorous turtles with a dome-like shell, elephantine hind feet, and (often) flattened, spadelike (though sometimes stocky and columnar) front legs. There are other technical attributes of the family as well. See http://emys.geo.orst.edu/collection/fam/Testudinidae/Testudinidae.html

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Interesting that there is a sea turtle genus Chelonia, along with order Chelonia