THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Testudines    Cheloniidae  

Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle
Lepidochelys kempii (Garman, 1880)
LEH-pid-oh-KEE-leez — KEMP-ee-eye

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.09.05.08.24.00)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.21 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Alabama Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Mississippi New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Carolina Rhode Island South Carolina Texas Virginia

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named in honor of a turtle collector.
Lepidochelys — From Greek lepis (λεπίς), “scale,” and chelys (χέλυς), “turtle.” The name means “scaled turtle,” likely referring to its scalation and carapace texture.
kempii — A patronym honoring Richard M. Kemp (1825–1908), a fisherman from Florida who provided the type specimen to science in the 19th century.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Bastard Logerhead (Thalassochelys kempi: 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); Kemp's Loggerhead (Colpochelys kempi: Brimley, Clement S. 1915. List of reptiles and amphibians of North Carolina. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 30(4):195-206); Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea kempi: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Atlantic Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea kempi: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Bastard Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea kempi: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Kemp’s Ridley Seaturtle (Lepidochelys kempii: Hedges, S. Blair, Robert Powell, Robert W. Henderson, Sarah Hanson, and John C. Murphy. 2019. Definition of the Caribbean Islands biogeographic region, with checklist and recommendations for standardized common names of amphibians and reptiles. Caribbean Herpetology (67):1–53);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1880 Garman, Samuel. On certain species of Chelonidae. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (6):123-126
1958 Carr, Archie and David K. Caldwell. The problem of the Atlantic Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys kempi) in 1958. Revista Biologia Tropical. 6(2):245-262
1991 Wilson, Robert V. and Zug, George R. Lepidochelys kempii Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (509):1-8
1994 Zug, George R. and Ernst, Carl H. Lepidochelys Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (587):1-6
1998 Bowen, B. W., A.M. Clark, F.A. Abreu-Grobois, A. Chaves, H. A. Reichart and R.J. Ferl. Global phylogeography of the Ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys spp.) as inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Genetica 101:179-189
2007 Bowen, B. W. and S. A. Karl. Population genetics and phylogeography of sea turtles. Molecular Ecology 16(23):4886-4907
2019 Hedges, S. Blair, Robert Powell, Robert W. Henderson, Sarah Hanson, and John C. Murphy. Definition of the Caribbean Islands biogeographic region, with checklist and recommendations for standardized common names of amphibians and reptiles. Caribbean Herpetology (67):1–53

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Thursday 22 January 2026 11:06 CT