Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 16, 2026

Emys

Emys is a small genus within the family Emydidae. The genus, consisting primarily of freshwater pond turtles, is endemic to Europe. It is the only genus in its subfamily Emydinae outside of North America.

Last revised
Jun 16, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
298 w
Citations
5
Source
Emys
European pond turtle
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Emydidae
Subfamily: Emydinae
Genus: Emys
A.M.C. Duméril, 18051
Key:
  Range of Emys trinacris.
  Range of Emys orbicularis.
  Range of Emydoidea blandingii (formerly Emys blandingii)
  Range of Actinemys marmorata (formerly Emys marmorata)

Emys is a small genus within the family Emydidae. The genus (sensu lato), consisting primarily of freshwater pond turtles, is endemic to Europe. It is the only genus in its subfamily Emydinae outside of North America.

Species

The following two species may be assigned to the genus Emys (sensu lato).2

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution
Emys orbicularis (Linnaeus, 1758) European pond turtle3 Western Palaearctic
Emys trinacris Fritz et al., 2005 Sicilian pond turtle34 Italy (Sicily)

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Emys.

References

References

  1. Rhodin et al. 2010, p. 000.104
  2. "Turtle Taxonomy: Methodology, Recommendations, and Guidelines" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-10. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  3. Rhodin et al. 2010, pp. 000.104–000.106
  4. "Emys trinacris ". reptarium.cz.
Bibliography
Further reading

Further reading

  • Duméril AMC (1805). Zoologie analytique, ou méthode naturelle de classification des animaux, rendue plus facile a l'aide de tableaux synoptiques. Paris: Allais. (H.L. Perronneau, printer). xxxiii + 544 pp. (Emys, new genus, pp. 76–77). (in French).