Produced in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution University Press, this up-to-date and extensive work covers the turtles of the world with over 1000 unique full-colour photographs and several video movies. All 288 species and 195 subspecies known to date - both aquatic and terrestrial - are included, and the taxonomy has been completely revised. Information of the IUCN on the status of these species (red list) is included. The geographic information system, MapIt, includes new distribution maps allowing an easy determination of the parts of the world in which different species live, a comparison of the distribution patterns of species, and a study of the geographic diversity of turtles. All principle literature references (over 1800) for this group are included.