Species of small tortoise seen in odd places to the north (5)
I believe the answer is:
sorts
'species' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'small tortoise seen in odd places to the north' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'small' could be 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size) and 's' is located in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ors' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sorts that I've seen before include "Segregates items into groups" , "Classifies" , "Types" , "Systematically arranges" , "Categories" .)