The purpose of this application, under Article 75.5 of the Code, is to conserve the current usage of the name Terrapene putnami Hay, 1906. We propose replacement of the nondiagnostic holotype (a fragment of a left hypoplastron) that was collected from a temporally mixed locality, with a more complete specimen comprised of the carapace, plastron, and associated non-shell postcrania from a nearby locality of late Pleistocene age. The specific name T. putnami is widely accepted by both palaeontologists and herpetologists as either a valid specific or subspecific name and has been established in the literature for over fifty years. However, the taxonomy of large fossil Terrapene specimens is ambiguous due in part to the lack of a more diagnostic and well-dated holotype for T. putnami. Recent molecular analyses of extant Terrapene species coupled with recent palaeontological studies have made the true diagnosis of the taxon imperative. It is proposed that all type species fixations for Terrapene putnami be set aside and a firmly dated late Pleistocene neotype be designated.