Erosa or Homes Hingeback and How To Tell the Difference

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Jacqui

Wanna be raiser of Lemon Drop tortoises
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Folks often have troubles telling the differences between an Erosa and a Homes hingeback, so I thought I would show you the major difference.

The major difference is in how the shell, at the posterior part of the carapace, has a drop off of almost 90 degrees in the Homes hingeback. It has what looks like a bump or knob at the fifth vertbral scute just before the drop off.
001.jpg


Note the bottom edge of the carapace is scalloped, but not sharply pointed. The knob also is quite clearly seen from this angle and in this tortoise appears much lighter then the rest of the carapace.
045-1.jpg


Homes Hingebacks have a nuchal scute which is the wedge (slice of pie) shaped scute right above the neck. In the below picture, the one on the right side shows up almost black in color.
055-1.jpg


Now compare it to the Erosa Hingeback whose shell has a more gradual slope at the rear.
108.jpg


The Erosa is also sometimes called the Serrated Hingeback. If you look at the bottom edge of the rear it is quite jagged compared to the Homes above.
114.jpg


There is no nuchal scute on an Erosa.
099.jpg


The Erosa also have a more pronounced gular scute which will stick out beyond the carapace.
110.jpg


I will be back later with some pictures for you to try your hand at identifying the two apart.
 
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