Dermochelys coriacea (Vandellii, 1761)

Figueroa, Alex, Low, Martyn E. Y. & Lim, Kelvin K. P., 2023, Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution, Zootaxa 5287 (1), pp. 1-378 : 71-72

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5287.1.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:78E23714-8973-4755-BC94-0A751D7D2B37

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7967718

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/88502B73-FFDC-B831-FF6B-429078E40C9A

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Dermochelys coriacea (Vandellii, 1761)
status

 

Dermochelys coriacea (Vandellii, 1761) View in CoL — Visitor.

Testudo coriacea Vandelli 1761: 1 , 7–9, pl. 2. Holotype: MZP unnumbered (formerly ZMUP), according to Fretey & Bour (1980: 198). Type locality: “maris Tyrrheni oram in agro Laurentiano ” (= Italy); later restricted to “ Palermo , Sicily ”, Italy by Smith & Taylor (1950a: 315, 1950b: 13); later restricted to “la côte romaine (Italie), Mer Tyrrhénienne, Méditerranée occidentale” (= Italy) by Fretey & Bour (1980: 198); later restricted to “Laurentum, between Lido di Ostia and Tor Paterno, shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy ” by Bour & Dubois (1984: 359).

Leatherback Turtle

( Figure 8E & 8F View FIGURE 8 )

Singapore records.

Sphargis coriacea — Knight, 1884: 3 (Siglap).

Dermochelys coriacea — Flower, 1896: 857.— Hanitsch, 1898: 8.— Flower, 1899: 609.—Ridley, 1899: 205.—Hanitsch, 1908: 37.— Boulenger, 1912: 30 ( Singapore Straits).— Hanitsch, 1912b: 14.— Sharma, 1973: 234.— Gremli, 1988: 62.—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 56.—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 135, 151.—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 105.—E.K. Chua, 2007b: 28.—H.T.W. Tan et al., 2007: 119.—P.K.A. Ng, 2009: 25.—T.H. Ng & K.K.P. Lim, 2010: 119.—H.T.W. Tan et al., 2010: 158.—L.M. Chou, 2011: 77.—P.K.L. Ng et al., 2011: 362.

Dermatochelys [sic] coriacea —Ridley, 1899: 188 (Tanjong Katong).

Remarks. Dermochelys coriacea is known from Singapore from a single specimen collected on 14 December 1883 by Skinner at Siglap ( Fig. 8E View FIGURE 8 ) who discovered locals trying to encourage it from the beach back into the sea ( Knight 1884). The records from Singapore Straits in Boulenger (1912) and Tanjong Katong in Ridley (1899) both refer to the same specimen. The only other record of D. coriacea in Singapore is from CAS 22249 whose catalogue notes state it was purchased from Turtox, a general biological supply company; thus, the locality may be unreliable. Although not collected in Singapore’s waters, another specimen was found trapped in a damaged fish trap at Kampung Batu Jawa, Johor Bahru, Malaysia on 11 March 1905 ( Kloss 1907). TTWG (2021) does not include Singapore in the nesting or foraging range of D. coriacea , but includes Malaysia under nesting distribution. Terengganu, Malaysia was renowned for its gathering of nesting D. coriacea (Moll 1976) with 37,654 sightings being recorded between 1967 and 1976 ( Chua 1988). Regrettably, the nesting population has since collapsed from a total of 10,000 nests in 1956 to 100 nests by 1995 ( Chan & Liew 1996). The movement patterns of these turtles are unknown, but given Terengganu’s proximity to Singapore, we suspect D. coriacea forages in or transits through Singapore’s waters.

Occurrence. Visitor. Rare.

Singapore conservation status. Not Evaluated.

Conservation priority. Lowest.

IUCN conservation status. Vulnerable [2013].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Siglap: ZRC.2.179 (14-Dec-1883) .

Additional Singapore museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): CAS.

Singapore localities. Siglap*.

NHMUK

Natural History Museum, London

ZRC

Zoological Reference Collection, National University of Singapore

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Testudines

Family

Dermochelyidae

Genus

Dermochelys

Loc

Dermochelys coriacea (Vandellii, 1761)

Figueroa, Alex, Low, Martyn E. Y. & Lim, Kelvin K. P. 2023
2023
Loc

Dermatochelys [sic] coriacea

Gunther 1864
1864
Loc

Sphargis coriacea

Dumeril & Bibron 1835
1835
Loc

Testudo coriacea

Vandelli 1761: 1
1761
GBIF Dataset (for parent article) Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF