Gopherus

Gopherus; Temporal range:
	Gopher tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Superfamily:	Testudinoidea
Family:	Testudinidae
Genus:	Gopherus; Rafinesque, 1832
Species
	G. agassizii (Cooper, 1863); G. berlandieri (Agassiz, 1857); G. evgoodei Edwards et al., 2016; G. flavomarginatus Legler, 1959; G. morafkai Murphy et al., 2011; G. polyphemus (Daudin, 1802);

Gopherus is a genus of fossorial tortoises commonly referred to as gopher tortoises. The gopher tortoise is grouped with land tortoises that originated 60 million years ago, in North America. A genetic study has shown that their closest relatives are in the Asian genus Manouria.^[1] The gopher tortoises live in the southern United States from California's Mojave Desert across to Florida, and in parts of northern Mexico. Gopher tortoises are so named because of some species' habit of digging large, deep burrows (gophers are small terrestrial burrowing rodents). Most notably, Gopherus polyphemus digs burrows which can be up to 40 feet (12 m) in length and 10 feet (3.0 m) in depth.^[2] These burrows are used by a variety of other species, including mammals, other reptiles, amphibians, and birds.^[3] Gopher tortoises are 20–50 cm (7.9–19.7 in) in length, depending on the species.^[4] All six species are found in xeric habitats. Numerous extinct species are known, the oldest dating to the Priabonian stage of the Late Eocene of the United States.^[5]

^ Le, M.; Raxworthy, C. J.; McCord, W. P.; Mertz, L. (2006-05-05). "A molecular phylogeny of tortoises (Testudines: Testudinidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear genes". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 40 (2): 517–531. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.03.003. PMID 16678445.
^ "About The Gopher tortoise". Gopher Tortoise Council. Archived from the original on 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
^ Fergus, Charles (2007). Turtles. Stackpole Books. pp. 22–24. ISBN 978-0-8117-3420-2.
^ Franklin, Carl J. (2007). Turtles: An Extraordinary Natural History 245 Million Years in the Making. MBI Publishing Company. pp. 129–131. ISBN 978-0-7603-2981-8.
^ "Fossilworks: Gopherus". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 2020-02-29.

[Le_et_al.-1] Le, M.; Raxworthy, C. J.; McCord, W. P.; Mertz, L. (2006-05-05). "A molecular phylogeny of tortoises (Testudines: Testudinidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear genes". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 40 (2): 517–531. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.03.003. PMID 16678445.

[2] "About The Gopher tortoise". Gopher Tortoise Council. Archived from the original on 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2009-07-03.

[Turtles-3] Fergus, Charles (2007). Turtles. Stackpole Books. pp. 22–24. ISBN 978-0-8117-3420-2.

[Franklin-4] Franklin, Carl J. (2007). Turtles: An Extraordinary Natural History 245 Million Years in the Making. MBI Publishing Company. pp. 129–131. ISBN 978-0-7603-2981-8.

[5] "Fossilworks: Gopherus". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 2020-02-29.

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Gopherus Temporal range:

Gopher tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Superfamily:	Testudinoidea
Family:	Testudinidae
Genus:	Gopherus Rafinesque, 1832
Species
G. agassizii (Cooper, 1863) G. berlandieri (Agassiz, 1857) G. evgoodei Edwards et al., 2016 G. flavomarginatus Legler, 1959 G. morafkai Murphy et al., 2011 G. polyphemus (Daudin, 1802)