 The genus "Furculachelys" was established for this taxon and "White's tortoise" (or "Selborne tortoise").The latter seems to be a local morph rather than a distinct subspecies, however.In any case, separating a form that is in all respects a perfectly ordinary "Testudo", compared to more distinct species such as the Russian tortoise seems to be gross oversplitting, making "Testudo" paraphyletic.