Turtles of the World

Welcome to ETI - Turtles of the World. These pages provide basic information about turtles, plus a sample of the Turtles of the World CD-ROM (by C.H. Ernst, R.G.M. Altenburg and R.W. Barbour). Turtles are the only living members of the subclass Anapsida, which is characterized by a primitive skull with a solid cranium and no temporal openings (anapsid). These shelled reptiles constitute the order Testudines. All living shelled reptiles are turtles, but the terms tortoise and terrapin have also been applied, and these have different meanings in various parts of the world. Tortoise is best applied to terrestrial turtles. Terrapin is usually applied to edible, more or less aquatic, hard-shelled turtles....