Gopherus polypemus vs gopher

Gopherus polypemus and gopher both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
Gopherus polypemus	Yes	No	No	No
gopher	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, Gopherus polypemus and gopher are synonyms defined as:

Gopherus polypemus and gopher: burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America

Other synonyms of Gopherus polypemus include gopher tortoise, gopher turtle.

Gopherus polypemus (noun)	gopher (noun)
burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America	burrowing rodent of the family Geomyidae having large external cheek pouches; of Central America and southwestern North America
	burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America
	any of various terrestrial burrowing rodents of Old and New Worlds; often destroy crops
	a zealously energetic person (especially a salesman)