Hermann's Tortoise

About the Hermann's Tortoise

The Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni) is a species of tortoise native to Europe. The specific epithet, hermanni, honors French naturalist Johann Hermann. The subspecific name, boettgeri, honors German herpetologist Oskar Boettger.

Two subspecies are known: the western Hermann's tortoise (T. h. hermanni) and the eastern Hermann's tortoise (T. h. boettgeri). Sometimes mentioned as a subspecies, T. h. peleponnesica is not yet confirmed to be genetically different from T. h. boettgeri.

In 2006, Hermann's tortoise was suggested to be moved to the genus Eurotestudo and to bring the subspecies to the rank of species (Eurotestudo hermanni and Eurotestudo boettgeri). Although some factors indicate this might be correct, the data at hand are not unequivocally in support and the relationships between Hermann's and the Russian tortoise among each other and to the other species placed in Testudo are not robustly determined. Hence, it seems doubtful that the new genus will be accepted for now. The elevation of the subspecies to full species was tentatively rejected under the biological species concept at least, as there still seems significant gene flow.

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