Margined tortoise
Testudo marginata Schoepff, 1792
Status not recordedturtles and tortoises
The margined tortoise (Testudo marginata) is a species in the family Testudinidae, order Testudines. Recorded adults weigh 1.92 kg to 2.08 kg and live up to 21.2 years.
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Quick facts about the margined tortoise
- Weight
- 1.92 kg – 2.08 kg
- Length
- up to 35 cm
- Lifespan
- 21.2 years
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 100 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Egg incubation
- 79 days
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3 – 15
- Age at maturity
- 14 years
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2.4
- Reproduction
- Eggs
- Active
- By day (diurnal)
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrial
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the margined tortoise live?
Not recorded
Is the margined tortoise endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the margined tortoise classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderTestudines
- familyTestudinidae
- genusTestudo
- SpeciesTestudo marginata Schoepff, 1792
Synonyms Peltastes marginatus melas, Testudo campanulata, Testudo graja, Testudo marginata cretensis, Testudo marginata sarda, Testudo nemoralis, Testudo tabulata var. campanulata, Testudo weissingeri
Other names and names in other languages (41)
- Dwarf marginated tortoiseEnglish
- Dwarf marginated tortoise (weissingeri)English
- Marginated tortoiseEnglish
- سلحفاة مهمشةArabic
- želva vroubenáCzech
- Bredrandet landskildpaddeDanish
- Breitrand-SchildkröteGerman
- Κρασπεδωτή ΧελώναGreek
- Tortuga MarginadaSpanish
- Dortoka ertz-zabalBasque
- reunuskilpikonnaFinnish
- Tortue BordéeFrench
- צב יבשה מרגינטיHebrew
- Obrubljena čančaraCroatian
- Szegélyes teknősHungarian
- Tartaruga marginataItalian
- フチゾリリクガメJapanese
- 마지네이트거북Korean
- Kraštuotasis vėžlysLithuanian
- HelmschildpadDutch
- żółw obrzeżonyPolish
- مارجینیٹڈ کھچوپڑاWestern Panjabi
- Tartaruga-marginadaPortuguese
- Окаймлённая черепахаRussian
- svart landsköldpaddaSwedish
- Черепаха облямованаUkrainian
- Tortue bordée naine (weissingeri)root
- 緣翹陸龜Chinese
- BreitrandschildkroeteGerman
- BreitrandschildkröteGerman
- Tortuga griega o tortuga marginadaSpanish
- Tortue bordée (La)French
- Tortue bordée naineFrench
- Tortue marginéeFrench
- testuggine marginataItalian
- Testuggine marginata sardaItalian
- 마지네이트땅거북Korean
- 마지네이트육지거북Korean
- KlokschildpadDutch
- Tartaruga-marginada-anãPortuguese
- Окаймлённая сухопутная черепахаRussian
Relatives of the margined tortoise
Other species in the same genus Testudo.

Hermann's tortoise
Testudo hermanni

Greek tortoise
Testudo graeca

Central Asian tortoise
Testudo horsfieldii
Negev tortoise
Testudo kleinmanni
CompareMargined tortoise vs Hermann's tortoiseMargined tortoise vs Greek tortoiseMargined tortoise vs Central Asian tortoiseMargined tortoise vs Negev tortoise
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the margined tortoise?
An adult margined tortoise weighs 1.92 kg – 2.08 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the margined tortoise live?
The margined tortoise has a recorded lifespan of 21.2 years.
What kind of animal is the margined tortoise?
The margined tortoise (Testudo marginata) belongs to the family Testudinidae in the order Testudines.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
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Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
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Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Margined tortoise (Testudo marginata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/margined-tortoise
“Margined tortoise (Testudo marginata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/margined-tortoise.
@misc{margined_tortoise_2026,
title = {Margined tortoise (Testudo marginata)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/margined-tortoise},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}