Wood Turtle Taxonomy

 

Common Name:  Wood Turtle
Scientific Name:  Glyptemys insculpta


What's in a name?

The first part of the Wood Turtle's scientific name, the genus, is Glyptemys.  Glyptemys is a combination of the Greek words glyptos which means 'carved' and emys meaning 'fresh-water tortoise'.  The second part of the scientific name is the species.  In the present case, the species is insculpta, which is Latin for 'engraved'.     

The scientific name of the Wood Turtle was changed in 2001.  Previously, its scientific name was Clemmys insculpta.  For a complete listing of all previous scientific names assigned to the Wood Turtle over the last 170 years, see below.

 

 

Scientific Name
Author
          Year
Testudo insculpta
Le Conte
                   1830
Terrapene scabra
Bonaparte
                   1830
Emys speciosa
Gray
                   1831
Emys inscripta
Gray
                   1831
Emys insculpta
Harlan
                   1835
Clemmys insculpta†
Fitzinger
                   1835
Geoclemys pulchella
Gray
                   1856
Glyptemys insculpta*
Agassiz
                   1857
Glyptemys pulchella
Gray
                   1869
Chelopus insculptus
Cope
                   1875
Clemmys insculpta†          
McDowell
                   1964
Glyptemys insculpta*          
Holman & Fritz
                   2001

 


Last updated: February 6th, 2010

Dr. Raymond A. Saumure  ©  2002-2010   •   All Rights Reserved