Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761)

Aidek, Ahmad E., Saad, Adib, Jablonski, Daniel, Esterbauer, Hans & Fritz, Uwe, 2024, Turtles and tortoises of Syria: Diversity, distribution, and conservation, Zootaxa 5506 (2), pp. 151-193 : 161-162

Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761)

Leatherback, Leatherback Sea Turtle ( Fig. 9 )

IUCN Red List Category: Vulnerable (VU A2bd; no Mediterranean breeding population).

Type locality: “Maris Tyrrheni oram in agro Laurentiano” [ Italy]. Restricted to “Palermo, Sicily ” [ Italy] by Smith & Taylor (1950a); to “la côte romain ( Italie), Mer Tyrrhénienne, Méditerranée occidentale” ( Italy) by Fretey & Bour (1980); and to “Laurentum, between Lido di Ostia and Tor Paterno, shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy ” by Bour & Dubois (1984).

Type specimen: Museo di Zoologia Pavia , specimen without number, holotype .

Chorotype: Circumglobal (Cosmopolitan).

First records for Syria: At about 2.5 km offshore Jabla town ( Rees et al. 2004), another record was off the Al-Kabeer River, Al-Bassah, Snaoubar ( Jony & Rees 2022).

Distribution in Syria: The species is foraging in Syrian waters; nesting is not confirmed.

Remarks: We follow Frétey (2022) and accept Baur (1888) as author of the name Dermochelyidae .

Figures

FIGURE 9. Leatherback sea turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, Port of Jabla (photo: Adib Saad).