gopher tortoise vs Gopherus polypemus

gopher tortoise and Gopherus polypemus both are nouns.

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

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

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

Other synonyms of gopher tortoise include gopher, gopher turtle.

gopher tortoise (noun)	Gopherus polypemus (noun)
burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America	burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America