Terraturts

Terraturts (genus vivuslapis, living stone) are large carnivorous descendants of red-eared sliders and can found in the forests and rainforests of Europe.

Biology

Terraturts have an average shell length of 3 feet with a width of 3 feet, height is 3.5 feet at the top of the carapace. They have a gray coloration on their shell and skin. They live to about 50 years old.

Terraturts are fully terrestrial unlike their semiaquatic ancestors. They have a less streamlined body-plan and a tankier build. Instead of clawed, webbed feet and flexible legs, terraturt legs are stockier and less flexible with flat, stubby feet with short claws.

Terraturts carry a gigantic domed shell on their backs. The shell has fused scutes and the entire shell has a smooth, hard surface. The scales on the legs and head are extremely thick and circular for camouflage. 

Terraturts are mostly carnivorous. They eat mostly small rodents and small birds, in some circumstances they'll eat mowboar piglets if the herds ever stumble into the forest. Because of their extremely slow speed, Terraturts ambush their prey with camouflage. The turtle lies on the ground for long periods of time with its head retracted , looking indistinguishable from a pile of rocks. As soon as anything walks by, it shoots its head out and kills its prey before swallowing it whole. During this period of waiting for prey, which could last days, moss may even start to grow on the shell which only helps the turtle blend in. 

Terraturts come in a variety of different morphs, as different pigmentations sometimes lead to higher kill success rates.  Melanistic and piebald terraturts have the same success rate as they gray ones. Albino and leucistic terraturts have a more successful kill rate due to small mammals thinking they're a salt rock and going towards it for minerals.

Behavior

Terraturts are solitary and only meet up to mate. Once the female is ready, she will dig a small hole and fertilize her eggs with stored sperm before laying them. The young hatch and go off on their own after absorbing the egg sac attached to them. Gender is based on temperature and the the higher temperatures lead to more females than males. Although this is a major setback males hit maturity faster as well as grow faster and females are slightly smaller than the males, this means that the males have a lesser chance of being killed due to being bigger before any predators get them.