THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY


Reptilia    Testudines    Cheloniidae  

Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758)

Current SSAR Comments:
Shamblin et al. (2014, PLoS One 9: e85956), using samples from 42 nesting rookeries, identified 59 different mitochondrial haplotypes. They made no taxonomic recommendations.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.12.11.21.26.25)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 3.66 MB

First instance(s) of published English names:
Hawks-bill Turtle (Testudo caretta: Catesby, Mark. 1754. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands: Containing the Figures of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Serpents, Insects, and Plants: Particularly the Forest-trees, Shrubs, and other Plants, not Hitherto Described, or Very Incorrectly Figured by Authors. Together with Their Descriptions in English and French. To which, are Added Observations on the Air, Soil, and Waters: with Remarks upon Agriculture, Grain, Pulse, Roots, &c. To the Whole, is Prefixed a New and Correct Map of the Countries Treated of. , London. pp.); Loggerhead Turtle (Testudo marina caouanna: Catesby, Mark. 1754. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands: Containing the Figures of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Serpents, Insects, and Plants: Particularly the Forest-trees, Shrubs, and other Plants, not Hitherto Described, or Very Incorrectly Figured by Authors. Together with Their Descriptions in English and French. To which, are Added Observations on the Air, Soil, and Waters: with Remarks upon Agriculture, Grain, Pulse, Roots, &c. To the Whole, is Prefixed a New and Correct Map of the Countries Treated of. , London. pp.); Hawksbill Tortoise (Testudo caretta: Forster, John R. 1771. A systematic catalogue of all the known plants of English North-America or, a flora Americae Septentrionalis. Pages in From Forster's translation of Bossu, Travels through that part of North America formerly called Louisiana, Vol. 1. T. Davies, London, England. pp.); Hawksbill Tortoise (Testudo caretta: Pennant, Thomas. 1785. Artic Zoology. Henry Hughs, London. pp.); Loggerhead (Testudo marina: Pennant, Thomas. 1785. Artic Zoology. Henry Hughs, London. pp.); Logger-head Turtle (Testudo caretta: Gmelin, Johann F. 1788. Caroli a Linné. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tom. I. Pars III. [Charles from Linnaeus. The system of nature through the three kingdoms of nature, according to classes, orders, genera, species, with characters, differences, synonyms, places. Volume 1. Part 3.] Impensis Georg Emanuel Beer, Lipsiae [Leipzig], Germany. 1035pp.); Loggerhead Turtle (Testudo caretta: Shaw, George. 1802. General zoology or systematic natural history. Volume 3. G. Kearsley, London, U. K.. 615pp.); Loggerhead Turtle (Chelonia caretta: Gray, John E. 1830. A synopsis of the species of the class reptilia. Pages 1-110 in The Animal Kingdom Arranged in Conformity with its Organization by the Baron Cuvier, member of teh Institute of France, with Additional Descriptions of all the Species Hitherto Named, and of many not before noticed. Ninth Volume. Whittaker, Treacher, and Company, London, England. pp.); Hawksbill Turtle (Chelonia caretta: De Kay, James E. 1842. Zoology of New-York, or, The New-York Fauna: Comprising Detailed Descriptions of All the Animals Hitherto Observed within the State of New-York, with Brief Notices of those Occasionally Found Near its Borders, and Accompanied by Appropriate Illustrations. Volume 1, Part 3 (Reptiles and Amphibians). W. & A. White & J. Visscher, Albany, New York. pp.); Caouanne (Caouana caretta: Gray, John E. 1856. Catalogue of shield reptiles in the collection of the British Museum. Part I. Testudinata (Tortoises). Taylor and Francis, London, England. 79pp.); Loggerhead (Caouana caretta: Gray, John E. 1856. Catalogue of shield reptiles in the collection of the British Museum. Part I. Testudinata (Tortoises). Taylor and Francis, London, England. 79pp.); Long Caoucanne (Caouana elongata: Gray, John E. 1856. Catalogue of shield reptiles in the collection of the British Museum. Part I. Testudinata (Tortoises). Taylor and Francis, London, England. 79pp.); Hawksbill Turtle (Thalassochelys caonaua: Yarrow, Henry C. 1876. List of Skeletons and Crania in the Section of Comparative Anatomy of the United States Army Medical Museum for use during the International Exhibition of 1876 in Connection with the Representation of the Medical Department U.S. Army. Army Medical Museum, Washington, D. C. pp.); Loggerhead Turtle (Thalassochelys caouana: Coues, Elliott and Henry C. Yarrow. 1878. Notes on the natural history of Fort Macon, N. C. and Vicinity (No. 4). Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 30():21-28); Loggerhead (Thalassochelys caretta: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Loggerhead Turtle (Thalassochelys caretta: Drowne, Frederick P. 1905. The reptiles and batrachians of Rhode Island. Monograph of the Roger Williams Park Museum 15():1-24); Turtle (Caretta caretta: Fowler, Henry W. 1907. The amphibians and reptiles of New Jersey. MacCrellish and Quigley, Trenton, N. J.. 29-250pp.); Logger Head Turtle (Caretta caretta: Fowler, Henry W. 1907. The amphibians and reptiles of New Jersey. MacCrellish and Quigley, Trenton, N. J.. 29-250pp.); Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta: Fowler, Henry W. 1907. The amphibians and reptiles of New Jersey. MacCrellish and Quigley, Trenton, N. J.. 29-250pp.); Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Thalassochelys caretta: Brimley, Clement S. 1915. List of reptiles and amphibians of North Carolina. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 30(4):195-206); Hawksbill (Thalassochelys caretta: Brimley, Clement S. 1915. List of reptiles and amphibians of North Carolina. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 30(4):195-206); Loggerhead (Caretta caretta: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Atlantic Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta caretta: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Pacific Loggerhead (Caretta caretta gigas: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Pertinent LIterature:
1758 Linné, Carl von (=Linneaus). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. [System of Nature through the three kingdoms of nature, according to classes, orders, genera, species with characters, differences, synonyms, places.] 10th Edition, Volume 1, L. Salvius, Stockholm. iv + 826pp.
2014 Shamblin, Brian M., Alan B. Bolten, F. Alberto Abreu-Grobois, Karen A. Bjorndal, Luis Cardona, Carlos Carreras, Marcel Clusa, Catalina Monzón-Argüello, Campbell J. Nairn, Janne T. Nielsen, Ronel Nel, Luciano S. Soares, Kelly R. Stewart, Sibelle T. Vilaça, Oguz Türkozan, Can Yilmaz, and Peter H. Dutton Geographic patterns of genetic variation in a broadly distributed marine vertebrate: New insights into the Loggerhead Turtle stock structure from expanded mitochondrial DNA sequences. PLoS One 9(1):e85956

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Thursday 30 January 2025 02:34 CT